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“But what about your family? Don’t you miss them?”
“I don’t have any family.”
I remember he said his parents were dead but… “You mean you’ve got no brothers or sisters?”
“No. I’m an only child,” he says. “As were my parents. So there aren’t even any uncles or aunts, or cousins.”
“You said they died?” I say, lowering my voice, because it feels like the right thing to do.
He nods his head. “In a car accident.”
“That must have been awful.”
“It was.”
“When did it happen?”
“Just after I finished my degree. I’d gone traveling in Europe to let off steam after all that studying, and I got a call from the police to say they’d been killed. Obviously, I went straight home again and dealt with everything. I hadn’t been away for very long. I think I’d been in Paris for about four days.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Why? Paris isn’t that bad.”
I shake my head, finishing my lunch. “I meant about your parents.”
“I know, but it was a long time ago.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. I’m older than I look.” He’s got a mischievous glint in his eyes and I can’t help smiling.
“You can’t be much over thirty.”
“Add three years to that nice round figure, and you’d be spot on,” he says.
“You’re thirty-three?”
He nods his head. “Yes.” That means he’s nine years older than me… not that it matters.
“So, you moved your whole life to America? Just like that?”
“I did. But don’t sound so surprised. You know how that feels. You moved to Europe.”
“I know, but I came home from time to time, like at Christmas and during the summer, and I knew I’d be coming back permanently at some point. It was never going to be forever.”
“I guess I didn’t know it would be forever when I first came over here. I just knew I wasn’t going straight back again. Not that my girlfriend understood any of that.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah… so there was someone you left behind?”
“I didn’t say there wasn’t. I just said I didn’t have any family. If we’re talking about everyone, rather than just relatives, then you’d have to include my friends, and my godfather as well.”
“Did they understand your reasons for coming here better than your girlfriend?”
“Yes, I think so. Some of them thought I was mad, but most of them – Henry especially – thought it was a great opportunity… an adventure.”
