Another man approaches. He’s a similar age to Richard, with a similar cashmere-to-condescension ratio. “Richard! There you are. Camilla, lovely party. Is this the entertainment?”
“His name is Captain Giggles,” Richard says, and there’s a slight smirk playing at his lips. “He was just telling us how fascinating he finds quantum field theory.”
The other man, whom I’m guessing is Charles of the Porsche inquiry, chuckles as he gives me the once-over. “Is that right? Always nice when the arts appreciate the sciences. What particular aspect do you find fascinating?”
Richard and Charles are performing for each other now. Two peacocks, displaying their plumage.
I should let this go. Smile, nod, pack up my scarves, and let these men feel superior. It’s the smart play.
But Richard’s still got that smirk, and his arm is still clamped around Camilla’s waist like she’s property, and I’ve always hated people who mistake credentials for intelligence.
“I find the renormalization problem particularly interesting,” I say. “The way infinities crop up in the calculations and have to be dealt with.”
Richard blinks. “You know about renormalization?”
“Bits and pieces. As I said, I’m interested in physics.” I pause, tilting my head like I’m trying to remember something. “Actually, there was a paper I came across recently.Hollowood and Shore, I think? On the running coupling in asymptotically free theories?” I furrow my brow. “They had this interesting approach to the beta function calculation using dimensional regularization that seemed to contradict some of the older literature. I couldn’t quite tell whether it was a genuine correction or just a different renormalization scheme. Do you happen to know?”
The silence stretches.
Richard’s face has gone through several interesting shades of red. His mouth opens, closes, opens again.
“I…that’s quite a technical question,” he manages finally.
“Is it? Sorry, I thought since you were at Imperial…” I trail off, shrugging apologetically. “Never mind. Like you said, I mostly just run about and shout. Probably got the details wrong.”
Charles is staring at me like I’ve sprouted a second head. Camilla presses her lips together, but I can see the corners twitching upward.
“Excuse me,” Richard says stiffly. “I should check on the caterers.”
He releases Camilla’s waist and stalks toward the kitchen. Charles follows, shooting me one last bewildered look.
Camilla waits until they’re out of earshot, then turns to me with barely suppressed delight. “That,” she says, “was magnificent.”
“I have no idea what you mean. I was just making conversation.”
“Of course you were.” Her eyes are sparkling. “I don’t suppose you’d like to stay for dinner? I have a feeling the conversation would be fascinating.”
“Tempting, but I have dogs to walk and a dinosaur to return to its natural habitat.”
She laughs. “If you ever get tired of children’s parties, Captain Giggles, I suspect you could do just about anything you wanted.”
She drifts off to check on the cake situation, leaving me to finish packing.
I’m zipping up the last bag when I hear footsteps behind me.
“I forgot my business cards,” I say without turning around, assuming it’s Leo back from the changing room. “They’re on the?—”
“Archie Mansley.”
I freeze.
It’s Richard. He’s holding one of my cards that I left on the table, staring at it with a strange expression. The smugness is gone, replaced by something I can’t quite read.
“That’s what it says,” I confirm carefully.
“Hang on a second.” He looks up at me, eyes narrowed. “Archie is not short for Archibald, is it?”
My stomach drops.
