Water by John Boyne

Author:John Boyne [Boyne, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Published: 2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

9

I’M IN THE OLD pub, reading a novel, when Tim Devlin walks in. He stops and looks me up and down, as if I’m a car or a piece of livestock that he’s considering putting in an offer on, and I stare back, challenging his gaze, but neither of us says a word. Instead, he makes his way towards the bar and orders a pint of Guinness before walking back towards me.

‘Do you mind if I join you?’ he asks.

I haven’t spoken to anyone in almost a week, and realize that I’m in need of human contact, so I put my bookmark in its place and indicate the seat next to me.

‘I thought you and I were never going to talk,’ I tell him.

‘Well, one of us needs to make the first move, I suppose,’ he replies, a phrase that bothers me. Does he think we’ve been dancing around each other all this time, waiting for the right moment? If he does, he would be wrong. ‘Let me get you another drink first,’ he adds, seeing my almost empty glass. ‘What’s that, a white wine?’

‘Yes,’ I say, and he puts his pint down, then returns to the bar, where he chats briefly with the publican. I wonder what sort of relationship they have, these two men supposedly in competition with each other. It’s a small island of only four hundred people, but perhaps those four hundred have a rare thirst on them so there’s enough business to go around.

‘Now then,’ he says when he returns, taking the stool opposite me rather than joining me on the banquette. ‘I don’t think I’ve introduced myself, have I? Tim Devlin.’

‘Willow Hale,’ I say. ‘So, what made you decide to talk to me today?’

‘I’ve been serving you soups and sandwiches for months now,’ he replies, ‘and we never exchange more than a hello and a goodbye. It’s got a little awkward, don’t you think?’

‘A little,’ I agree, finishing my first glass of wine and starting on the second.

‘I had the impression from the start that you wanted to be left alone.’

‘I did, for the most part. You probably thought I was the rudest woman in Ireland.’

‘Oh no,’ he replies, shaking his head. ‘I already met her. Sure I was married to her daughter for years.’

I laugh, despite myself. A mother-in-law joke. I thought they’d gone out with the ark.

‘This island seems to draw us in, doesn’t it?’ I say.

‘Us?’

‘The forlorn.’

‘What makes you think I’m forlorn?’ he asks.

‘You wear your loneliness like an overcoat,’ I tell him. ‘It’s one of the reasons I haven’t talked to you either. I always assume you just want to get on with your work without any fuss.’

‘That’s true enough.’

‘Can I guess?’

‘Can you guess what?’

‘What you’re struggling with.’

He shrugs.

‘If you want,’ he says.

‘You were a bad husband,’ I say. ‘You drank or you gambled. Maybe you cheated. In the end, your wife divorced you and it was only then that you realized what you’d thrown away. You’ve regretted your actions

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