Page 67 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘Did I?’
‘According to Livia, you knew exactly what to expect when I arrived in town that day.’
Eden’s mouth fell open. ‘That little…Consorting with the enemy, eh? I’ll have to have words with Livia!’
He grinned.
‘What else have you and Livia been whispering about?’
‘Oh, this and that. Don’t worry, she hasn’t committed any serious espionage for me. It was only a bit of idle gossip. I had plied her with a couple of glasses of rum by this point, so I don’t think she was entirely to blame for any secrets she might have given away.’
Eden pulled two cups from a cupboard and spooned coffee into them. ‘Maybe I did. You have to admit you’re a bit of a poster boy at the company. Most people have the measure of you – when it comes to work, in any case.’
‘Poster boy, eh? I quite like that. And when it’s not work? How well do you think you know me out of work?’
‘I don’t know. I’m still figuring you out.’
‘Instinct. Give me your gut feeling at this moment.’
Eden turned to watch the kettle boil. What was her gut telling her? She turned back.
‘I think,’ she began slowly, ‘that you’re not quite as ruthless as you want everyone to think.’
‘Guilty. Anything else?’
The kettle switched itself off, and she poured some water into the mugs. ‘You’re moderately funny. You can tell an entertaining story, and you make good cocktails. I think you’d like to be liked.’
‘Wouldn’t we all? Surely you want people to like you. Isn’t that really what your community kitchen is about?’
‘No!’
He raised his eyebrows, and she had to smile.
‘OK, maybe a bit.’
‘It’s not your fault. Every kind act is done with some selfish intent – it’s human nature. It’s why we do kind things because, ultimately, we hope to get something out of it.’
‘That’s bull.’
‘No, it’s not; it’s a proven fact. You can google altruism in psychology and it’s there in black and white. It’s evolution, and you can’t fight it. Humans started out doing things for other humans because they realised they might need the favour returned one day. It’s a way to survive.’
Eden put her hands on her hips. ‘OK, so that could be true of giving someone in need a fiver to get some food, but how do you explain bigger things? Like’– she clicked her fingers – ‘like laying down your life for someone? Explain that, Freud. What does the person laying down their life get out of it, apart from being dead?’
‘Humans got so good at the altruism thing we didn’t know when to stop.’
‘That’s mental.’
‘I never said the theory was perfect.’
Eden brought the coffees to the table and sat next to him. ‘So that’s how you defend refusing to be kind, is it? It’s an inbuilt instinct that you – because you’re so much cleverer than everyone else – can choose to ignore?’
‘I never said I could. I’m volunteering for you, aren’t I?’
‘To win a bet.’
‘At first, yes. But now…do you really think I refuse to be kind? You think I’m never kind?’
‘I don’t know you well enough to say either way. But you just told me the theory yourself. If you’re occasionally kind, it’s because there’s something in it for you. So if you – Cam Faulkner – buy a load of drinks for a load of villagers, presumably you thought you’d somehow benefit somewhere down the line.’
