“If it makes your friend Leo feel any better, up until embarrassingly recently, I didn’t realize that halibut was a fish,” he admits.
“What?”
“I thought that it was a vegetable.”
“Sorry?” I say, baffled.
“I thought it was a vegetable. The word ‘halibut’ sounds like a vegetable.”
“No, it doesn’t. It sounds like a delicious fish.”
“You think that because you know it’s a fish. But if you just heard the word, you’d be like, ‘Oh, that must be some kind of potato.’ The day I found out it was actually a fish, it threw me off completely. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.”
“But when you’d ordered halibut in a restaurant in the past, didn’t you realize then?”
“Ah, but here’s the thing, I would never order halibut,” he explains, “because I thought it was a potato and I didn’t want a main of potato. I wanted a more exciting main, like fish. I would see it on a menu and wonder who was ordering a main of potato that often came with a side of potato.”
“Wow.” I nod slowly, letting it sink in. “That’s bad.”
“Don’t be too judgmental. Let’s not forget the ‘floozy’ incident.”
“That’s not even my worst one, to be honest. I used to think that quince was a jelly flavor.”
He looks thoughtful. “What does a quince look like? I’m picturing a fig.”
“It’s more like a pear. When I found out it was a fruit, I googled it and saw pictures. It’s like a bright yellow pear.”
“Look at that.” He lifts his drink to his lips. “You learn a new thing every day.”
“So they say.”
He smiles, setting his cup down. “You ever been to Dublin before?”
“Not for a long time. I was really little, so I don’t actually remember anything about it.”
“You going to do some sightseeing?”
“That’s the plan for today.”
“On your own?”
“Guess so. Isabelle and Ryan didn’t have enough holiday to take today off after their honeymoon, so they’re flying tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah, I spoke to Isabelle last week and she mentioned that. Want to do some sightseeing together? I was planning on having a wander round the city, too.”
I hesitate. “Yeah. Okay. That would be nice.”
“We can spend the day dazzling each other with interesting facts.”
“Absolutely. You can share some more halibut-type revelations.”
“No problem,” he says, before breaking into a knowing smile. “And you can tell me about the French waiter in the pool.”
What the—
How could he possibly know?
Hello Isabelle
