He took a sip. ‘Nice. Try mine.’ He pushed his glass towards her.
For the next fifteen minutes they tasted, sipped and compared before settling on their final choices. Of course, by then Leo was Ivan’s new best friend.
‘Cheers, mate,’ Leo said as they took their drinks, leaving Ivan to serve another customer.
‘How do you do that?’ asked Anna, taking a sip through the foamy head of the lager.
‘Do what?’
‘Make everyone fall in love with you,’ she said a touch irritably, waving one hand at him.
‘I’m being friendly.’
‘Hmm. I was friendly first.’
He lifted his shoulders. ‘I like people. I guess I’m predisposed to think well of them. My brother was the opposite. He had a tough time when we were growing up. It’s not every day your mum marries a movie star. It plunged us into a whole new world but it was easier for me because I was younger, so I didn’t have as much to compare it with. Raph got burned by people using him. It made him very cynical, whereas for me it opened up a whole new world. I guess I’m more like my mum than him. She likes to embrace new things and she loves people. Although everyone assumes because Raph is the suspicious, careful one that he’s much more sensible than me.’ Leo’s mouth twisted and Anna saw an unfamiliar scowl on his face. ‘He’s the reliable one that everyone can trust. I’m the flaky one.’
Anna stared at him. She’d only met Raph a handful of times and yes, he was the dark to Leo’s light, with an air of calm authority about him. She could see why people would automatically defer to him rather than to Leo. But Leo was implicitly honest.
‘You’re not flaky,’ she told him.
‘Aren’t I?’
‘No, not at all.’ She realised it was true. ‘You are reliable. You’re a good friend to people. You care about them and you don’t let them down. I suppose some people might … well, be suspicious that you make friends so easily. Are you really sincere?’
‘If you show people you like them, in general they like you back. If you’re suspicious then they they’re going to be wary.’
‘Yes, but not everyone has the confidence to bound in like a puppy, expecting everyone to like them.’
‘Yes, but why assume people won’t like you? And if they do, don’t worry about it. That’s their problem. You could spend all your life trying to please other people. Just be yourself.’
Anna swallowed. Maybe her tongue was loosened by the beer but she was surprised when the words slipped out. She asked in a very quiet voice, ‘What if you don’t know who yourself is?’
Leo leaned over to take her hand. ‘That’s the saddest thing you’ve ever said. You’re Anna Love. You’re a good person, who looks after others. Kind and decent.’
‘But nothing special. And now I sound whiny.’
‘You’ve never been whiny in your life, Anna. And you are special. Super special. I don’t think you’ve ever given yourself enough credit for the duff hand you were dealt. You lost both your parents at a young age, but you were old enough to remember them and be shaped by them. Then you moved into a completely alien environment.’
Anna started. ‘“Alien environment”! That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it? My aunt and uncle gave me a home. They gave me everything. They treated me the same as their own children. They’re my family.’
‘I know they looked after you and gave you a home but… I feel sometimes that they squashed you. Made a square-shaped Anna when you should have been an oval-shaped Anna. You had to fit, rather than be you.’ Leo looked a little diffident, fiddling with his beer glass, as if maybe he’d said more than he meant to.
Anna shook her head. ‘You’re wrong, Leo. They didn’t have to take me in. I needed to adapt. I was the one that came into their home. I was the cuckoo in the nest.’
‘Rubbish. You still should have been allowed to be who you are.’
She scowled. He had no idea. But for a fleeting moment, she wondered what oval-shaped Anna would have been like.
ChapterNineteen
‘This is going to be so much fun,’ said Michaela as they walked down the stairs, each clutching an overnight bag and a pile of bedding. Leo agreed. He’d been looking forward to this weekend and escaping the city, even though today’s sky of unbroken cloud was flat and grey. Winter was creeping towards them and the temperature had dipped by several degrees in the last couple of weeks.
‘You do know she’s going to put you to work,’ said Jan, with a wink at him and Anna.
‘We don’t mind,’ she said.
‘Speak for yourself.’ Leo laughed before adding, ‘Although I’m not sure how much use I’ll be.’
