‘But, you know, I get it’s not for everyone. Just… think about not holding back with Orla. If you want.’
‘Can you keep a check on the fish?’ Jacques asked Tommy. ‘I need to see Gerard for plates and other things.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Tommy agreed.
And Jacques couldn’t leave the conversation fast enough.
30
‘Burim says he’s caught a fish bigger than that before,’ Erin said, nudging Orla as they gathered around a communal trestle table filled with an assortment of different accompaniments to the fish barbecue. There were baguettes, cheeses, Delphine’s cookies, pots of vegetables in sauces, creamy potatoes and salads. Everyone had rustled up something to share with the village in literally no time at all.
‘Of course there are bigger fish in the world,’ Orla replied. ‘But I don’t think you’d get bigger in ice fishing.’
‘Well, Burim says he caught one under the ice in Kosovo.’
Did they even have ice in Kosovo? Why was she even questioning it? Was Burim Kosovan?
‘Erin, do you think perhaps Burim might be… I don’t know… stretching the truth a little sometimes?’
‘You mean lying to me?’
‘Well, I don’t think I actually said it quite like that but?—’
‘Why would he lie about a fish?’ Erin asked, spooning vegetables onto a paper plate. ‘I mean, what would be the point?’
‘I don’t know. I guess to make himself sound more important? Bigger?’
‘You saw the photo of him in his grey sweatpants. Could he get bigger?’
‘OK, OK, that’s too much.’
‘I think that’s what I might be saying when we meet.’
‘Erin!’
‘What? Wearegoing to meet, you know. We’ve been planning it for ages now.’
‘Erin.’
‘What?’
‘I just…’
‘What?’
‘It’s a lot isn’t it?’
‘Are we still talking about his sweatpants pic?’
‘No!’ She sighed. ‘But, you know, a guy from another country.’ She still didn’t know what country. ‘One of you travelling to a place you haven’t been to before.’
‘He wants to come to England but he needs to get a visa and it’s really hard. I think it’s prejudice actually.’
‘Where is he from, Erin? Because you’ve done quite a lot of telling me where he isn’t from, but you haven’t said where heisfrom.’
‘Because you’ll judge,’ Erin said. ‘Burim says everyone judges him based on his nationality.’
‘Narrow-minded people might,’ Orla stated. ‘But I’m not narrow-minded, am I?’
