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“Do we get to m-meet Leo?” I asked.
“Depends how long you want to hang around. He’s got a job in the village.”
Adam was still holding my hand. And if that was possessive of him, I didn’t care. “What kind of job?”
“Fishmonger’s wife needs a good deep dicking.”
I had forgotten—as I always forgot—how difficult Marius was to talk to. His lethal combination of sarcasm, contrarianism, and general resistance to offering any information he didn’t have to. “Marius…”
“Edwin.” I hated it when he mimicked me. But then he seemed to relent, although I still got the impression he was rolling his eyes behind his glasses. “He does odd jobs, okay? DIY. And if you really think I bothered to pay attention when he told me what an old lady needed doing to her pipes or a butcher needed hanging, you don’t know me at all.”
He was lying—I could tell by the way he lifted his chin and stared me down, like he was daring me to call him on it—but I let him keep his little lie. “Will you show me the boat?”
“Sure.” He pointed. “It’s there.”
This was also so quintessentially Marius. “G-great,” I said, wanting to kick mygs in the ear for their petty little rebellion. Or maybe I just wanted to kick Marius inhisear. And elsewhere. “I’m s-so g-glad I visited.”
“Fine.” Marius made a gesture that suggested I was the one being unreasonable. “I’ll show you the fucking boat. Come on.”
Adam picked up his bag again. “Where should I put these?”
“Up your nose? In the river? What are they?”
“Present for you.” Adam smiled sweetly.
Marius did a very poor job of repressing a shudder. “That’s a massive fucking bag of elderflower wine, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Adam was still smiling sweetly. “Enough to last you all summer long.”
There was a long silence.
And, to my surprise, it was Marius who gave in. “Stow them in the bow. And I’ll… I’ll. Stow them in the bow.”
As Adam was stowing, a couple of women passed by us on the towpath, heading back towards Chirk.
“Any coffee today?” one of them asked.
“No,” replied Marius. “I put a sign out just to taunt people.”
There was indeed a free-standing sign—and a prettily chalked one at that; Marius’s work again?—offering a cup of fresh tea or coffee for a pound.
Apparently undeterred by Marius’s absolute lack of customer service, one of the women ambled over to the open side hatch, where a stack of paper cups and other drink-making accoutrements were being guarded by Mr. Froderick. “Shall we help ourselves?”
“Nope,” said Marius. “I’ve got nothing better to do with my time than rush over there in order to transfer liquid from one container to another on your behalf.”
“Are there any pierogi left?”
Marius sighed like Atlas must have sighed when he was told,yes, it was going to be the whole world. “I’ll get some. But you better bring the Tupperware back because it’s my mother’s and she treats her Tupperware like they’re her children.”
“You mean she puts up with a lot from them?”
“Fuck off.”
As Marius disappeared into the interior of the boat, the woman poured out two cups of coffee, and tossed a note into a tin that appeared to have been left out for the purpose. “When are we going to meet your mother?”
“Never. She lives in Oxford and you’re literally strangers.”
“Marius, you and Leoliterallyhad dinner with us last night.”
