Page 65 of Copper Script
People so rarely did.Aaron knew all the reasons.“Go on.”
“This morning I had another visit, same man.He said Sabini had changed his mind, and if I could pay four quid a month I could pay ten.”
“Good God.”
“I said, is it going to keep going up, because that’s some inflation you’ve got there.He said yes, it was.I—got a bit upset.And he waited for me to, uh, finish being upset, and then he said Darby Sabini might let me work something out, if I had sufficiently useful information for him.”
“What information?”
“That’s what I said.He said I needed to talk to Mr.Sabini about it.I said I didn’t know anything useful.He said, what about your pal the copper?”
Aaron’s fingers tensed convulsively on the stem of his wine glass.He made them relax before he snapped it.
“I said, what pal is that,” Joel went on.“He said, the one who keeps coming round here, who took you out for curry just the other day.”
“Ravioli for you, signore!”Angelo announced from over Aaron’s shoulder.He deposited the plates, waved the pepper grinder around, and departed.
“This smells marvellous,” Joel said, prodding his plateful.“Shall I go on or would you rather eat first?It seems terribly ungracious to spoil both our appetites with unpleasant things.Although, once I’ve told you, you might wish I’d just got on with it.”
“If we don’t eat, Angelo will be offended.I come here at least once a week and I can’t lose my favoured-customer status.”
Joel forked up a single parcel, and chewed cautiously.“Mph,” he said with his mouth full.“God, that’s good.No, you’re right, mustn’t upset him.”
They ate in silence for a few moments.Aaron was ravenous, perhaps more so because Joel had sought him out.
“I’m glad you came to me,” he said.“I made a pig’s ear of our last meeting and I’m sorry.”
Joel’s eyes snapped up to his.He had a mouthful of pasta, so Aaron took his opportunity to keep talking.“You have probably gathered that I haven’t been having an easy time, but I handled things poorly, and I apologise.It wasn’t anything to do with you.”
Joel swallowed.“Thanks.And I’m sorry too.Partially.”
“Partially?”
“You had every right not to come back to mine if you didn’t want to, or to change your mind about it.Throwing myself at you doesn’t oblige you to catch me.But it felt easier to be cross about that than to say what I was actually upset about, which was prickish of me, and I am sorry.Not partially.”
“If you would like to tell me what you were actually upset about,” Aaron said with caution, “perhaps I could apologise specifically?”
Joel gave him a level look for a couple of seconds longer than felt comfortable, then let out an abrupt breath.“Look, I’d let myself hope for—well, more that you just coming up for a couple of hours.And I realised I shouldn’t have, and it hurt a bit.That’s all.Well, it’s not all, because then I was an arsehole about it.”
The words were a fist to Aaron’s chest.How he’d failed, what he’d missed.“I’m sorry,” he said again, uselessly, because he wasn’t sure what else to say in the face of that bare truth.He didn’t think Joel wanted to hearI’d have hoped too, but I didn’t have the nerve.“I’m sure my behaviour was confusing.I don’t really know how to, uh, conduct this kind of thing at the best of times, which these are not.But if it helps, I wanted to come up that night more than I can say.It wouldn’t have been a good idea.”
Joel gave a tight imitation of a smile.“Indeed it wouldn’t, because there was a man watching my house that night, who I have to suppose was a Sabini.Did you know that was going to happen?”
“Not when I invited you to dinner, no.Rahim warned me just before we left Shafi’s.He said he’d just had a visitor—a Sabini—who had told him to report back on who I was eating with.”
“Shit.Really?Shit.”
“I assumed, as long as I didn’t go back to your flat, there would be nothing to report and no problem.It would have been more sensible to part at the restaurant door, but the truth is, I didn’t want to.That evening was the only good thing that’s happened to me in some time and I didn’t want it snatched from me before it had to end.”
“That’s nice,” Joel said.“Glad to be of help.It’s made my life considerably worse, but the food was wonderful, so I dare say it’s swings and roundabouts.”He stabbed a bit of pasta with his fork, and added, “Ignore me, I’m being a bitch.This isn’t your fault.”
Aaron was uncomfortably sure he was wrong about that.“I didn’t intend to bring you harm.In retrospect I was a fool, but I didn’t expect what’s happening now, or anything like it.”
“No, I dare say not.And as you say, lucky you were warned.How come restaurant proprietors are so helpful to you?”
“I’ve evicted a couple of tiresome customers, both here and at Shafi’s.I like to stay on the right side of good food.”
“Wise.”Joel had cleared his plate.He ran a piece of bread over the remaining sauce, with a look of regret that might have been because he’d finished, or because they had to talk about this again.
