Page 32 of The Lies I've Told
Dean laughed. “You know, I have a little girl at home who once hated seafood as much as you.”
“Oh yeah? Let me guess; you cured her of it?”
“What kind of fisherman would I be otherwise?”
I shrugged. “The kind who knows kids hate seafood?”
“You’re not a kid, Millie,” Aiden reminded me, his gaze dark and deliberate.
“Well, I can still eat like one.”
“Oh come on, Millie, You travel all over the world for that fancy job of yours, right? Surely, you don’t order French fries and burgers when you’re in Paris?”
I gave Dean an exasperated look, trying to ignore the fact that I was not a world traveler anymore. “Of course not.”
“Well, that’s a relief—”
“In France, they’re calledpommes frites.”
Aiden broke out into laughter while Dean shook his head and said, “You’re exasperating. And that’s saying a lot. I live with a six-year-old genius.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I’m an adult, therefore I can eat, or not eat whatever I want.”
Billy arrived, and although Dean rolled his eyes at my plain cheeseburger and French fries, he kept his word and added everything to his tab, including Aiden’s fish and chips.
“Do they remind you of home?” Dean asked.
“What now?” Aiden asked, seemingly caught off guard as he had been staring off at the bay.
“The fish and chips—do they remind you of England?”
“Oh no, not really.”
The way he’d said it with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes still fixated on the subtle waves rolling into harbor told me it was a topic he wasn’t keen on elaborating on.
But Dean pressed onward nonetheless. “Do you miss it? Your home?”
“No, not in the least.”
It was a surprising answer. Didn’t everyone miss their home, even just a little? I knew I did.
“Where in England are you from?” Dean asked.
I turned toward him, my eyes widening to an unnatural size.
His shoulders rose as he mouthed back to me,What?
Clearly, he wasn’t getting it.
Maybe it was the accent, but of all people, the emotionally scared Dean should see when a person was retreating from a subject, and that was Aiden. It was as if there were a bright white flashing sign above his head that said,This Topic is Off-Limits, and Dean was blind to it.
“Nowhere significant,” Aiden replied.
Suddenly, I caught a wisp of auburn hair. I turned to see Cora as she made her way onto the deck, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, look! Cora’s here!” I announced rather loudly, dragging Dean’s attention toward his fiancée.
I saw Aiden let out a breath of air. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to make him never want to return to England.
