“Maive seemed very pleased with how everything went,” Pasek said.
“Good.” Sweetfleck, would this man stop his incessant chatter?
“She liked your gift for her.” He accepted my mug from my hand. I’d extended it because this was going to happen regardless. He took a sip and returned it. “You look tired.”
“The music was loud.”
“Mm.” A pause. “Only the music?”
“Only the music,” I said.
He considered this. Silli chose that moment to come trotting back up from the tide line and scale my leg and plant himself on my shoulder with wet paws. He looked at Pasek and made a short, friendly sound.
“Good morning, Silli,” Pasek said warmly.
My animal friend was a traitor. I had raised him poorly.
“What are you doing here, Pasek?” I asked. “There is clearly something on your mind, so spit it out.”
He smiled. “Didyouenjoy yourself? Last night.”
“I atepindlokand talked to people.”
“And?”
“And what?” I snapped the line harder than I should have and the fish that had been nibbling got away.
Pasek pressed his lips together. That expression never led anywhere good. “She kissed you,” he said.
Not a question. I turned very slowly and looked at him.
He wasn’t smiling. This was an irritating, private satisfaction, the expression of someone who figured he had a good lead on some hot gossip and was going to poke around for the truth until it finally came out. “When you came back out of that building,” he said, “there was a look on your face. On both of your faces.”
“There was no look,” I responded.
“Yes, there was,” he insisted. “I know it. Everyone knows that look.”
“You know nothing.” I maneuvered my cup away from him as he reached for it again. “And even if you did, you’d be wise to mind your own business.”
“I’ve known Maive my whole life,” he said, ignoring me. “I’ve seen her interested in exactly one man before you, and he had the same look.” He tilted his head. “Knocked sideways. That’s the phrase.”
“I suggest you stop talking,” I said. “Or I’ll toss you in the ocean.”
“I swim,” he replied pleasantly.
“Not after I break your legs.”
He laughed—genuinely, full, showing his teeth. How far I’d fallen. No one was afraid of me anymore.
“She’s the finest person I know,” Pasek said, when he’d composed himself. “She’s given everything to this village for aslong as I can remember and she doesn’t ask for much back.” He looked at me directly. “She deserves someone who cares for her.”
I watched where my line entered the water. I had nothing to say to that, but I wondered about the man who’d had her heart first. What had happened to him? He’d died, obviously. No one would willingly leave Maive.
“I thinkyoucare for her,” Pasek said.
I grunted but said nothing more. He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t like having my feelings spread out and on display like that. Especially since I wasn’t even sure what these feelings were. The extent of them. The depth of them. It was all too big to contemplate, like this ocean. The water undulated. A large seabird sailed over the top of the water, calling once.
“Go home, Pasek” I said wearily. “Surely you have better things to do than come out here and harass a tired old man.”
