‘In the old days the big room was the parlour, but that was long before my time. When my mother was a student at the university, she shared it with a friend, and then she lived here with my father after they got married.’

Tess isn’t sure if she should respond to this morsel of family history, but Georgia doesn’t wait.

‘My own room is downstairs, and there’s a shower room next door to it so we won’t need to queue in the mornings. I hardly ever come up here these days. We can share the kitchen and the drawing room, and you can have this upstairs bathroom for yourself,’ she pauses, ‘unless I take in another lodger, of course. It’s not terribly likely, though. I always used to have a houseful, but I think I’m too old for that now.’

Before she can stop the thought, Tess is adding up the twenty-five per cents of three lodgers in her head. Three people at, say, £300 a month each. More if there were four or five. It would be a nice profit.

Georgia interrupts her thoughts.

‘Stan has a big estate car. I’ll ask him to take me to IKEA before he leaves on his trip north and I’ll buy you a new bed. Can’t have you sleeping on the floor, can we?’

It’s on the tip of Tess’s tongue to ask who Stan is, but Georgia is already leaving the room.

At the foot of the stairs, it becomes clear that the meeting is over.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow then. I assume you have somewhere for tonight?’

Tess nods. She realises she hasn’t actually been properly asked if she wants the room; Georgia has simply assumed that she will take it and accept the rather unusual rent arrangement, which means she will be showing this new landlady her wage slip, if she has one. She has never done that before in her entire life. It seems that there are going to be a fair few never-befores in her future.

Before she has time to ask Georgia any questions, she finds the decision has been made and she is standing in the street outside with her coat on. She looks up at the house, and then down at Baxter. ‘Come on, Bax,’ she says as she bends down to ruffle his ears. ‘Let’s go and pack our bags.’

Chapter 55

February 2011

After Tess has left, Georgia goes back to the kitchen. She picks up her phone and sends a text.

Afternoon, Stan. I am getting a new lodger. Is there any chance you could take me to IKEA? I need to buy a bed.

The phone rings and a man’s face appears on the screen as the caller ID.

‘You know I hate using the phone, Georgia, but I just had to ring and ask if you are quite sure about this. I thought you were done with lodgers after the last time.’

‘You know me, Stan, I’m a sucker for a hard-luck story.’