Page 58 of The Christmas Holiday
I searched for an appropriate reply. ‘I’ve certainly not been to a restaurant like this in London, that’s for sure.’
‘We can go somewhere else.’ Marty shoved his hand in his back pocket and ran a hand over his hair, the baseball capfrom earlier gone to reveal a tidy, combed-down side parting, clipped short at the back and sides.
‘No! It looks… great! I do have a tiny confession, though.’
‘Oh?’
‘I don’t actually eat prawns.’
Marty gave me a blank look.
‘Shrimp? I can’t eat them.’
‘Ohhh! What d’you call them?’
‘Prawns.’
He laughed and held out his hand. I took it, navigating the slats with myheels. ‘Uncle Elmer has a whole lot of other choices. And he cooks the shrimp all separate what with allergies and stuff. So long as you eat fish. You do eat fish, right? I guess I should have checked that, huh?’
‘No, I definitely eat fish.’
‘Well, hi there!’ An older woman with a piled-high hairdo and friendly face approached the table, ‘Marty said he was bringing a real pretty girl fordinner tonight, and he wasn’t wrong.’
Across from me, Marty went the same red as my dress. ‘Aunt Em. Please.’
She batted his protestations away. ‘Oh, just you shush. Now what can I get you to drink?’
Marty opted for a non-alcoholic beer and I chose the same. Mostly because it was easier to do so.
‘And just listen to that darlin’ accent! I can see why he was smitten like he says.’
‘Aunt Em!’
‘You know, everyone thinks he’d be asking girls out all over the place. I mean, look at him! Handsome, tall, ex-military to boot but—’
‘You were in the military?’ I directed the question at Marty, but glancedat hisaunt, so as not to seem rude. I had to do something. For one thing, I felt like I was on a date with Marty’s aunt, and for another, the poor man was dying ofembarrassment.
‘I was. Ten years,’ he replied.
‘I’ll go and get those drinks.’ His aunt seemed to get the hint and finally left.
He smiled at me, bashful. ‘Sorry about all that.’
I laughed. ‘It’s OK. She means well. She’s obviously very proud of you.’
He nodded. ‘Since I came out, they all got kind of protective.’
‘Oh?’
His hand drifted to the fork on the table, movingit a tiny bit one way and then back again, keeping his eyes down. ‘I had a little trouble readjusting to civilian life initially. I was supposed to be getting married but my fiancée wanted to move to the city…’
‘And you didn’t?’
He shook his head. ‘We’d talked about doing that but, when I got home, I couldn’t deal with the noise. I like it here. I love the quiet of nature, kayaking upthe river. I help out here too when I have time. ‘Course, none of it pays very much and it wasn’t exactly what me and my fiancée had talked about before. It wasn’t fair to ask her to change her dreams. She’s always wanted to live in the city.’
‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Marty.’
He looked up and smiled. ‘It’s all good. It’s what it’s supposed to be. There’s someone for everyone, right?’
