Chapter 13
Daniel
He really hadn’t intended to tell her very much of anything, and when he started with the life story stuff, it had mainly been a ploy to keep her off the topic of Chuck. It had got out of hand in the end; he couldn’t seem to stop and she had seemed so enthralled. He did not think of himself as a natural-born storyteller. Mostly he liked to get down to the facts, let those speak for themselves.
He told himself that she was probably just very good at pretending to find people fascinating, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. In the little time he’d known her he’d noticed that she was not that good at hiding her feelings, at least not in front of him. Maybe it was just the curse of an expressive face, or just plain old lack of practice. It surprised him – surely it was an important part of being a journalist? Daniel for one had been perfecting the art most of his life, and yet when faced with her disarming smile, he felt as though he were giving himself away somehow. The more worrying thing was that he didn’t really mind.
‘So if I can get back to Chuck …’ Her voice brought him back into the room. He might have known that his distracting technique would only work for so long.
‘As I said, I don’t know much, but I’ll tell you anything I do know.’ There he was again, lying to her face. He still felt bad about it, but he noted that it was easier than last time.
‘Do you like him?’ It was so direct, and totally not what Daniel had been preparing himself to answer.
‘Um, I … Um, what do you mean?’
Ore smiled devilishly. ‘Do you like Chuck? As in, do you think he is a nice person with good qualities?’
Daniel took a moment, pretending he was thinking of something particularly insightful to say. He counted to ten, furrowing his brow, performing his pondering. ‘I think that Chuck is a person who is good at what he does, and is pleasant to those around him.’
‘Well,thatwas almost as convincing as Agatha’s answers.’ Ore was deadpan, and then Daniel spotted a tug at the corner of her mouth, and then she was trying to hold in a giggle and then they were both laughing a little too loudly. Daniel worried that he wouldn’t be able to stop, as his eyes began to water. When First Officer Dudley turned to see what was going on, Daniel only bellowed louder.
Ore’s eyes twinkled as Daniel got a hold of himself. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so hard, and he fought off a creeping feeling of self-consciousness. Suddenly he felt overly aware of how close to him she was sitting, and he had no idea what to do with his hands. Ore leant back and crossed her arms, a playful grin on her face.
‘Just tell me one thing?’ she pleaded softly. How could he refuse?
‘Sure,’ he said, a little nervous about what he was agreeing to.
‘Does he make you call him Mr Regas? It seems strange to me that he’s so familiar with you but you only address him by his surname.’
Daniel hadn’t been expecting that. It seemed inconsequential really, so he didn’t feel conflicted about answering. ‘I called him Chuck once, when we first met and he insisted.’ Daniel thought back to his first conversation over the phone, a couple of weeks earlier. ‘And then both VickyandAgatha suggested that I don’t.’ He could see Ore’s curiosity pique; it was subtle, but her shoulders drew back slightly and she tilted her head down so she was looking up at him slightly, under her perfectly arched eyebrows.
‘Why’s that then?’
Daniel realised too late that he had entrapped himself. The truth was revealing, but he was here now.
‘Vicky said that … that he had a way of using that kind of familiarity to his advantage.’ He knew he had said too much, and what’s more he had dropped Vicky in it too. What had happened to his plan to say as little as possible?
It was clear that Ore was not just a hapless puff-piece writer. He found he was a little hurt by the thought that their shared moment of merriment was a ruse to get him to open up.
‘So it’s a self-protection mechanism for you? To keep your distance from Chuck, so he doesn’t come asking for favours?’
‘I wouldn’t say that.’ Daniel was on high alert now.
‘What would you say?’ Ore was pushing, her tone a little forceful, but Daniel had said enough.
‘I would say that I like to keep things professional.’
Ore must have sensed his reluctance, because she nodded slowly and closed her notepad, though she had not writtenanything down. ‘Well thanks very much, Captain Wilsons, for your time.’ The formality felt jarring.
‘Please call me Daniel.’ It sounded more pleading than he had intended, and strangely pointed after their conversation, but Ore smiled.
‘Yes, Daniel, of course, I was kind of teasing.’
‘Is that the great British sense of humour I’m always hearing about?’ He had to admit that he hadn’t been able to tell she was joking.
‘The very one,’ she said, winking at him. Daniel was glad the interview was over. He found Ore’s presence disconcerting. He yo-yoed between feeling entirely at ease and feeling nakedly on display, and he was unused to both.
‘So who did you want to speak to next?’ Daniel was keen to move things along.
‘It’s got to be Vicky, right?’ Ore chirped, a mischievous look in her eye.
With trepidation, Daniel replied: ‘Vicky it is.’
