“I’m telling you, he had a knack for it,” she says, prompting Ryan to give me an I-told-you-so look and making me laugh. “We used to plant things together, turning the soil and weeding while he practiced his speeches for debate club.”
“You were in debate club?” I ask, impressed.
“He wascaptainof debate club,” Fredrik informs me, bringing over a steaming chicken dish, fresh from the oven, that he sets down on a mat in the middle of the table.
“Great, thanks, Mum and Dad,” Ryan mumbles. “We’ve been here all of half an hour and you’re already spilling childhood secrets to Harper. Since it’s now common knowledge, I justwant to be clear that being captain of the debate club at school was considered very cool by all my peers.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” I say with a teasing smile. “You know, it makes complete sense to me that you would be captain of the debate club.” I turn to address his parents, now that Fredrik has taken his seat at the table, too. “Ryan is very good at arguing his point when it comes to a heated discussion in the office.”
“That’s code for ‘Ryan is a pain in the arse,’” Ryan translates.
“Not what I meant.”
“Ah, but heisa pain, because he’s stubborn,” Fredrik says, gesturing for my plate so he can serve. “Always has to have the last word in a fight. It’s maddening.”
I turn to look at Ryan accusingly. “Hey! You always say that about me!”
He shrugs. “Takes one to know one.”
“You could never win with Ryan, but he used that power wisely,” Fredrik says, passing my plate back once he’s loaded it up. “You know, he founded his school newspaper? When he proposed it, the head teacher refused. He was worried it would encourage anarchy, I think. Well, as you can imagine, Ryan wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
“Dad,” Ryan groans, “Harper isn’t interested in hearing about—”
“Um, Harper is very interested, thank you very much,” I interrupt. “Please carry on.”
“He rallied support from the other students, proposed a debate for and against a school paper to take place in an assembly and be judged by a panel made up of teachers and students—clever, right? The vote was unanimous. Ryan got his way and became the very first editor. It’s still running at the school today, and it’s great experience for the students who want to go on to study journalism at university.”
“Wow!” I say, genuinely impressed. “That’s really cool, Ryan. You never told me that.”
“Debate club, gardening, school newspapers—why bother filling you in on such sexy achievements when I can just bring you back to my parents and let them do the honors?” he mutters, taking a drink in between mouthfuls.
“To be fair, you do quite a good job of that yourself. Let’s not forget you telling me that story about your famous cricket ball catch in the lake.”
Fredrik lets out a gruff laugh. “Still boasting about that one, eh, Ryan?”
“It came up naturally in conversation!” Ryan justifies.
I grin. “He did mention it’s still up on your mantelpiece.”
“At his insistence,” Fredrik says. “I’m sure he’ll point it out to you later.”
“It really was the pinnacle of my career,” Ryan sighs, sitting back in his chair. “Harper got the scoop on Audrey Abbot after sixteen years; I caught a cricket ball mid-fall backward into a lake. You tell me which is more impressive?”
“Speaking of, I loved that interview,” Emily tells me, her eyes widening with interest. “What was she like in person? You must get to speak to the most amazing people as celebrity editor.”
“Audrey was as incredible as you’d expect,” I confirm, much to her delight. “She was guarded at first—no surprises there—but once she got talking, she really was fascinating.”
“Did she approach you for the interview?”
“Not exactly. I had to bring her round to the idea, but it wasn’t as painful as I was expecting.”
“Have you always been interested in the arts?” Fredrik asks, swallowing his mouthful.
“Yeah, I always leaned more toward the arts at school. I loved reading and film, too.”
“And did you always want to be a journalist?” Emily asks.
“Okay, Mum and Dad, chill out on the questions,” Ryan says, blushing.
