[He doesn't bat an eyelid when she says her room's paid up for two months. It really is a surfeit. It's not what people do in Small Heath, but she doesn't surprise him. He doesn't raise a brow because he already knew. He has everything still to learn about her, but this is not the type of thing she has to tell him. Didn't she think he'd check with her landlord, after the first time he walked her home? Tommy Shelby, inquiring bastard, leaves no stone unturned. If he'd been born in different circumstances, he'd have made a good investigator himself. Pity that clue didn't give away anything he couldn't already tell about her.
It was never a question of what either of them could afford. Grace was brave enough to ask things of him, and he liked her better for asking. He likes to be the source of money and favours. He leads a dishonest life, but he wants to feel he's as good as his word, and that people know it. He wants to be reliable. If she never really needed more money, that doesn't embarrass him. They got to test each other's mettle with those low-stakes negotiations, didn't they?
She has some fucking cheek, standing right where she gave him away and expecting him to swear anything to her. Somehow it's his loyalty in question, even when they're in the place where she told his business to the police. He breathes an short, incredulous sound.
Will you be here?]
At the museum? No.
[Tommy has some vicious comic timing, so insensitive to a woman's feelings, and for what? A dry joke that doesn't even make him smile. But he knows what she means. It's part and parcel of the question about what happens when she gets back. His footfalls are loud in the cavernous room as he moves to stand right in front of her.]
You have a contract of employment with a real Limited Company.
[That's not going to work, he realises as soon as the words are out of his mouth. He sighs. If she watches closely, she'll see him sloughing out of his protective armour. His posture softens, so does the look in his eyes.
He reaches for her left hand, lifting it up and drawing a line across her palm with the pad of his thumb.]
When you come back, we'll make a little cut on your hand, just here. On mine, the same. [He clasps hers tight.] Hold them together like this. Then it's you and me.
[She might know what he means, she might not. He's prepared for both eventualities. Grace is the only one who can answer whether it's worth it to love him. Tommy's sure it isn't, but he's not a good enough man to warn her away from him when she's what he wants.]
no subject
It was never a question of what either of them could afford. Grace was brave enough to ask things of him, and he liked her better for asking. He likes to be the source of money and favours. He leads a dishonest life, but he wants to feel he's as good as his word, and that people know it. He wants to be reliable. If she never really needed more money, that doesn't embarrass him. They got to test each other's mettle with those low-stakes negotiations, didn't they?
She has some fucking cheek, standing right where she gave him away and expecting him to swear anything to her. Somehow it's his loyalty in question, even when they're in the place where she told his business to the police. He breathes an short, incredulous sound.
Will you be here?]
At the museum? No.
[Tommy has some vicious comic timing, so insensitive to a woman's feelings, and for what? A dry joke that doesn't even make him smile. But he knows what she means. It's part and parcel of the question about what happens when she gets back. His footfalls are loud in the cavernous room as he moves to stand right in front of her.]
You have a contract of employment with a real Limited Company.
[That's not going to work, he realises as soon as the words are out of his mouth. He sighs. If she watches closely, she'll see him sloughing out of his protective armour. His posture softens, so does the look in his eyes.
He reaches for her left hand, lifting it up and drawing a line across her palm with the pad of his thumb.]
When you come back, we'll make a little cut on your hand, just here. On mine, the same. [He clasps hers tight.] Hold them together like this. Then it's you and me.
[She might know what he means, she might not. He's prepared for both eventualities. Grace is the only one who can answer whether it's worth it to love him. Tommy's sure it isn't, but he's not a good enough man to warn her away from him when she's what he wants.]