‘Some days I feel exactly the same as I did when I was sixteen and other days I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror,’ I replied, surprised at the honesty of my confession. But Dev always had been easy to talk to. ‘Like, who is that old lady with the eye bags and what is she doing in my bathroom?’
‘Perhaps she knows the man with the dark circles who keeps showing up in mine,’ he grinned. ‘I think you’re probably the same person deep down. Are you still morally opposed to chicken on a pizza?’
‘I don’t know why it’s wrong, it just is. I’m not even saying it tastes bad, it’s not right.’
‘Do you still hate golf and tennis?’
‘How can someone whack such a small ball such long distances and make it go where they want it to?’ I grumbled. ‘It defies the laws of physics.’
‘Speaking of physics …’
‘Maths disguised as science. Sneaky and I don’t like it.’
He laughed as he sliced the fat off a rasher of bacon with surgical precision. ‘But your mum’s a science teacher!’
‘Manny too,’ I replied with thinly veiled disgust. ‘Can you even believe it?’
‘Can’t believe Manny ended up being a teacher,’ Dev said as he laid each rasher of bacon out on a freshly foiled baking tray. ‘I thought he couldn’t leave school soon enough.’
‘As much as he tries to keep it quiet,’ I said, raising my voice over the flowing tap as I washed the honey off my parsnips, ‘Manny is secretly a very good person. He hated school because he didn’t have a good experience, now he’s got the chance to make that experience better for other kids. It’s kind of incredible when you think about it.’
‘Wow.’ Dev placed a small sausage at the end of each rasher of bacon and rolled them up slowly and carefully. ‘Amazing level of selflessness from a man who once closed the entire school down by bringing in a live sheep on career day.’
‘That was selfless in its own way,’ I reasoned. ‘We all got the day off and he spent a week in detention.’
‘Teaching is probably a better fit for him. He would have made a terrible shepherd, always whining about how cold it was on the walk to the bus stop,’ he replied. ‘And what about you? You went into law, like your dad?’
‘Yep,’ I nodded, not exactly desperate to go into details. ‘And Cerys is a lawyer too, you know.’
Dev cocked his head to one side and smiled. ‘If anything, I’d have thought you’d go into teaching and Manny would be the lawyer.’
I glanced over my shoulder to see him hunched over the baking tray, intense concentration on his face. ‘Why’s that?’
‘You always loved reading and he always loved arguing.’
‘A fair assessment,’ I admitted with a laugh. ‘I think that was part of why he went into teaching too. He’s serving a lifelong sentence for being a difficult teenager.’
‘But you like your job?’
I shrugged and bundled my vegetables in paper towel.
‘Yes?’ I replied, sounding more non-committal than I’d planned. I held up the freshly washed parsnips for inspection. ‘What shall I do with these?’
‘Lightly drizzle them with the honey glaze,’ he ordered. ‘And I meanlightly.’
‘OK, doc,’ I said, sticking out my tongue as I dumped the vegetables onto another clean baking sheet.
‘Corporate law aside, you seem like the same old Gwen to me.’ He paused to clear his throat and I sucked in my cheeks to stymie my smile. ‘I bet you’re still carrying five different books around with you as well.’
Picking up the bowl of honey glaze, I turned away so he wouldn’t see my face.
‘I can’t remember the last time I finished a book,’ I admitted as I drizzled lightly. ‘Every time I pick something up, I fall asleep. My brain can’t process anything that isn’t work.’
‘Good thing you like your job then,’ Dev replied softly.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed, my voice unreliable. ‘It is.’
‘Pretty sure I’m still exactly the same.’ He tapped a heavy-handled carving knife against the chopping board as I placed the parsnips in the oven. ‘Or at least I am according to my mother.’