Tina straightened the cream throw she’d placed over the settee and attempted to relax as seven o’clock approached. Telling Maisie she could come and see the flat wasn’t tantamount to saying ‘You can move in’ before they’d even met, was it?
Lots of things needed to be discussed before that stage was reached – if it was reached at all. Some basic house rules would have to be laid down: no smoking, respect each other’s space, no leaving dishes to soak in the sink, a rota set up for the housework. Rules about privacy and bringing people back to the flat would have to be agreed.
Of course, none of this had been necessary when Jodie had lived here – they’d known instinctively what the other would like and how they would react to things. But Maisie was a stranger with who knew what kind of habits.
By one minute to seven Tina had convinced herself having a stranger as a flatmate was totally the wrong thing to do. She didn’t need or want one. She’d got used to having the place to herself. Being a slob if she felt like it; being obsessive over housework if the mood took her – or ignoring it totally for days. Coming home after a day at the agency working with Leah, she’d come to appreciate the silence and the fact that there was no one she had to talk to. Granted, mornings tended to be a problem for her, but then that wasn’t something she expected a new flatmate to help with. It was her problem.
But it was too late to cancel now; Maisie would be here any minute. So she’d be polite, go through the motions of discussing things and then suggest they both took a couple of days to think things over. In reality, Tina knew she’d already made her decision. She was happy with the status quo and didn’t need a stranger as a flatmate. Until she found someone she knew and liked who needed somewhere to live, she’d continue to top up the rent from her savings. It wouldn’t be forever. Imagine if she unwittingly found herself living with someone like Leah. She shuddered. No, she wasn’t going to take that risk.
Opening the door a few seconds later, after a gentle knock that if she hadn’t been listening for she’d have missed, Tina blinked. She hadn’t expected this. ‘Oh.’
Standing in front of her with a hopeful smile was a fair-haired girl – no way was she old enough to be called a woman. With her black-velvet jacket, torn jeans and blonde hair cropped short, she looked more like an escapee from a boy band. Why hadn’t it occurred to her that Maisie could be so young? She’d simply assumed she’d be near her own and Beth’s age, not someone who looked as if she should still be in kindergarten. Holding the door open and, despite trying not to, staring at the girl, Tina felt completely wrong-footed.
‘Hi. I’m Maisie,’ a quiet voice told her.
‘Come in,’ Tina said, feeling her earlier resolve not to offer Maisie a room weakening instantly. Why couldn’t Maisie have turned out to be older and a goth or something weird, rather than somebody who looked incredibly sweet and naive as well as absurdly young? And in desperate need of a helping hand.
‘Oh, let me help you with that,’ she said, as Maisie started to struggle to slip a large rucksack off her back.
‘This weighs a ton. However did you manage to carry it? There’s nothing of you.’ She stopped herself from saying ‘You’re far too thin’ just in time.
Maisie shrugged. ‘No choice. Nowhere to leave it and all my stuff is in it.’
Tina put the heavy rucksack down by the door leading to the spare bedroom and turned back to Maisie.
‘Coffee?’
Maisie nodded. ‘That would be lovely, thank you.’ She sank down on the settee, tiredly pushing strands of blonde hair away from her face. ‘It’s lovely and warm in here.’
‘Did it take you long to find me?’ Tina asked.
‘No. I wasn’t far away,’ Maisie said.
Waiting for the kettle to boil, Tina opened a packet of biscuits and put them beside the mugs before pouring the coffee and taking it through to the sitting room. She placed it on the small table by the settee and offered Maisie a biscuit.
‘Beth said you were couch-surfing. Where was the couch last night?’
Maisie waved a hand vaguely in the air. ‘About twenty minutes away. Ooh, bourbons – my favourite. Can I have two, please?’
Tina nodded. ‘Of course.’ She pushed the open packet towards her. ‘How long have you been in London?’
‘Two nightmarish weeks.’
Tina took a sip of her own coffee and waited for Maisie to say more, but her mouth was too full of biscuit to continue.
Something wasn’t quite right here. The more Tina looked at Maisie, the more she realised how unkempt she was. Surely, even if she was couch-surfing in friends’ homes, she’d be able to use the shower?
‘Why did you come down to London in the first place?’ Thoughtfully, Tina watched Maisie devour the biscuits and then take a gulp of coffee.
When she could finally speak again, Maisie looked at Tina and said quietly, ‘I came down to be with my boyfriend who’d got a job here four months ago. What I didn’t know until I arrived was that, along with his new job, he’d also begun a new relationship.’ She took another gulp of coffee.
‘John and I grew up together, our families are close friends. Looking back, I suppose we did drift into a relationship, but I thought we really loved each other. We were even thinking about getting engaged, which was when he decided, if we were to have a proper future, he needed to move down south and earn some real money.’
‘I understand how hurt you must have been and I’m sorry about that, but I have to ask, why didn’t you get straight back on the train and go home?’ Tina said. ‘And why didn’t he tell you it was over and not to come down, when you told him your plans? That would have been the right thing to do.’
‘I didn’t tell him. I wanted to surprise him. Instead it was me who got the biggest surprise.’ Maisie shook her head. ‘As for going straight back home. I felt such an idiot. I’d been telling everyone about this marvellous new life I was going to have in London with John. I just couldn’t face going home and having to tell people the truth. That he’d dumped me. I thought if I stayed and got a job it would be easier to admit in a month or two that John and I had broken up, but that I was fine and had made a life for myself down here.’
‘But you’re not fine, are you?’ Tina said gently. ‘And you haven’t found a job.’
Maisie rubbed her eyes. ‘No.’
‘How old are you?’
‘Twenty – almost.’
‘Do you have any money?’
A shake of the head confirmed Tina’s worse fears.
‘Not much. About three pounds.’
‘When was the last time you ate a proper meal?’
‘I had something last night from the soup kitchen.’
‘Right. Stop eating those biscuits now. I’m going to make you some proper food. And then we’re going to talk,’ Tina said. ‘Bowl of pasta and Bolognese sauce OK?’
‘Thank you,’ Maisie said. ‘Can I help?’
‘No, it’s OK. Stay where you are. It won’t take long. You can talk to me while I do it. So, how d’you know Beth?’
For her own peace of mind and before things went any further, Tina needed to know there was a genuine link between them. Not just someone Beth had met who was down on their luck.
‘She’s a friend of my sister. I bumped into her outside… outside King’s Cross station.’
Tina noted the hesitation and looked up from the pasta she was pouring into the saucepan. ‘Were you begging?’
She barely heard the whispered ‘Yes’.
‘Did Beth realise what you were doing?’
‘No. I saw her coming so I pretended to be just leaving the station.’
Tina sighed as she heated the Bolognese sauce. The mention of the soup kitchen and begging at King’s Cross filled her with dismay. No way could she let Maisie go back out to that life with all the dangers it posed for her. She was so vulnerable. She was lucky she was still in one piece after a couple of weeks in London without a home.
When the pasta meal was ready she put it on the breakfast bar, but Maisie was asleep on the settee, looking so young and defenceless Tina could have cried.
‘Meal’s ready,’ she said, gently touching her arm. ‘Fancy a small glass of wine with it?’
Maisie gave a start as she opened her eyes. ‘Sorry. I haven’t had much sleep recently. A glass of wine sounds good.’
As Maisie ate her meal, Tina sipped her wine and watched her carefully for several moments before saying gently, ‘You weren’t telling Beth the truth, were you, about couch-surfing? So, where exactly have you been sleeping?’
‘Some nights, when I’d made enough money begging, I managed to get a bed in a hostel,’ Maisie shrugged. ‘Otherwise, anywhere I felt safe. There weren’t many places where that happened.’ She looked at Tina as she scraped the last of the sauce of the plate. ‘That was delicious, thank you.’
‘Right. We need to talk,’ Tina said, reaching a decision. ‘The facts are: one – you’ve got nowhere to live, two – no money to pay rent, and three – no job.’
‘That just about sums it up,’ Maisie said quietly.
Tina looked at her, knowing she had to help this… this girl-child.
‘So, if I were to give you the train fare to go home – would you take it and do that? Or…’ Tina took a deep breath. ‘If I said you could have my spare room rent-free for a month, sort yourself out, find a job, and start to create a new life for yourself down here, would you want to do that?’
Tina held her hand up as Maisie went to speak. ‘You don’t need to make a rushed decision. Think about all the implications properly.’
She picked up Maisie’s empty plate and glass before smiling at her. ‘You can spend the night here. Go and take a shower and then you can go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Tell me your decision in the morning and we’ll sort things out one way or the other.’
While Maisie was in the shower Tina washed up, deep in thought. Would the girl take her up on her offer to stay? Or would she take the train fare and go back to Scotland? Or even rob her and then disappear? Was she being stupid offering Maisie a place to stay for a month?
Closing the cutlery drawer Tina decided that, whatever happened, she had to offer Maisie help. It was all too easy for youngsters to get sucked into the lowlife she knew existed out there in the city. Especially when they were all alone. They were easy prey to the unscrupulous. Maisie was simply a young girl down on her luck who needed a helping hand. And she, Tina, was determined to be that helping hand.