Chapter 10 #2
‘I’ll come back…’ I start to leave but Florian is already taking off his apron.
‘Ava, let me help.’ He shouts something to the other man on the stall who looks at me quickly with a small smile and then ushers him off. I realise that rejecting his help would be pretty pointless and just make me look like a petulant child.
‘Are you with friends?’ he asks as he catches up to me. We weave through the crowd, making slow progress as we near the dancing.
‘Sort of.’
‘What, they’re not your friends?’
‘They are… just not what you probably are expecting.’
‘Well, it’s good that you have some people around.’
‘You don’t need to worry about me on that front.’
We reach the table, The American and Crispy are deep into an impassioned argument so they don’t notice my arrival.
The second bottle is now empty and a third has made an appearance.
Florian’s brow is furrowed, his eyes scanning the table for where my group of age-appropriate friends could possibly be.
‘Just set them down here.’ I try to give off the impression that he should leave now, but I can see the curiosity eating away at him.
‘It’s fine, I’ll take them to you.’
‘This is me,’ I hiss. It is a sound that grabs their attention and two drunken octogenarians turn to face me, their eyes going from me, to the food and then falling on Florian behind me.
‘Oh no dear, I couldn’t possibly manage him too,’ The American drawls and then the both of them fall about in a fit of cackles.
‘Right, food time.’ I place the containers down in front of them, add a wooden fork and then open up the water for good measure. I go to take my portion from Florian who has an infuriating smile written large on his face.
‘Don’t…’ I warn him.
‘I get why you wanted the bread now.’
‘Yeah, let’s hope this will do. Thanks for helping.’ I sit down on the bench and Florian turns to leave.
‘Oh, don’t go!’ Crispy shouts out through a mouthful of food.
‘He’s working,’ I say quickly and push the paella a little closer to them.
‘Florian.’ The American suddenly has all of the clarity of someone who has never touched a drop of alcohol in their life and holds out her scrawny hand for Florian to take. ‘It’s nice to meet you properly, without all the shouting.’
Florian looks sheepish and mumbles a polite ‘Enchanté.’
‘Sit down and have a drink,’ she orders with the authority of a judge.
I don’t blame Florian who hesitates before obeying.
I watch as his eyes pass over to the stall, tries to assess its length, whether he’s needed.
I look too, see the dwindling line, his colleague methodically plating up without much effort.
Florian sits down next to me, hands knotted together, waiting for the questions.
Crispy starts to slur to someone else next to him, leaving Florian to an interrogation.
‘So, you’re the brother-in-law.’ She slides over a wine and Florian takes it, cradling it between his palms.
‘Yes… I was.’ He nods solemnly. I try to distract myself by chasing rice around the container with my fork.
‘You’re not any more?’
‘Well I mean… I was never exactly a great brother-in-law when Ettie was here, I’m sure she doesn’t need me now he’s not.’
‘If only all family connections were as easy to get out of.’ She raises a glass and then watches Florian closely as if inspecting his reaction.
‘I should apologise for the other day,’ he says, changing the subject. ‘We had a bit of a shock, running into each other. I wasn’t exactly at my best.’ He gestures to me and I nod slowly; it definitely wasn’t either of our finest moments.
The American weighs up his apology and then shrugs. ‘Ava explained the situation. I think both of your reactions were understandable.’
‘I just don’t want you to think that I normally chase women down the street…’ Florian adds.
‘You don’t? That’s a shame. I quite liked the passion of it all.’
I choke on my forkful of rice.
‘I’m teasing you.’ The American nudges me and then smiles bashfully at Florian. ‘You’re quite the thing to look at, you know?’ He looks at her startled, as if processing her statement and then, suitably alarmed, looks to me for assistance.
‘Easy, girl,’ I grin.
‘You just have a face that’s quite hard to forget.’
‘Er, thank you?’
‘I’ve seen lots of faces, you start to know the good ones quickly.’
‘Have some water.’ I push the bottle towards her.
‘Let an old woman have some fun.’ She bats the bottle away. ‘I’m not drunk, just honest.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I murmur to Florian. ‘Bet you regret offering to help now.’ He lets out a stifled little chuckle in response.
‘Ava told me you’re an artist.’ She leans over the table as if she is expecting to see his work tattooed onto his eyeballs.
‘Yes.’ He nods quickly.
‘I love art.’ She gestures at her outfit, the colourful kimono and matching headband, with a pout. ‘If you can’t tell.’
‘You should come to Chateau Beaumont on Wednesday,’ Florian says lightly, sounding terrifyingly genuine. ‘There’s an exhibition in the gallery up there, local artists mainly but there’s some interesting pieces.’
‘How wonderful.’ She practically blossoms at the invitation. ‘How about it, Ava?’ His invitation has caught me off guard; I usually have time to formulate excuses for things like this. ‘Come on, darling, it’s not like you have any better offers of entertainment in this place on a Wednesday night.’
‘Fine.’ I sigh, and The American twinkles at my defeat.
The music gets louder, the quartet have added a singer, more people migrate to the stage. The American looks to Florian.
‘I like this one.’
‘Then we should dance.’ He offers her his hand over the table. She makes a girlish squeak and almost jumps from her seat.
‘I knew I liked you,’ she smiles.
I watch as he guides her through the crowd; he towers over her, and she clings on to him for dear life, but they are smiling and laughing as he twirls her around, pumping her arms to the beat.
‘She’s right,’ Crispy slurs into my ear. ‘He does have a very nice face.’