putting away books or coming downstairs. I quite like it. “Oh, here comes Florence in her enormous work shoes…”’
‘Stop it! You can’t laugh at my mental habit and my shoes!’
‘Sorry, but those shoes are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen.’ Then his face turned serious. ‘Why the counting?’
I inhaled and held the air in my chest before replying. ‘Because I always have done. Ever since I was little. It’s a comfort blanket.’
‘For how long?’
‘Since I was four. When I could count. My mum died and my stepmother arrived and… it just started.’
He nodded slowly and grinned again. ‘Do you do anything else weird?’
It made me laugh. ‘No! Just that. What about you?’
‘What about me?’
‘Do you have any weird habits?’
He gestured at his arms. ‘Do tattoos count?’
From here, I could see the bird flying up his right arm, and, on the left, the muscled legs of a man in winged sandals sticking out from underneath his T-shirt sleeve. ‘What’s the bird?’ I asked, pointing at it.
He glanced down and rubbed his fingers across its feathers. ‘An owl.’ He raised his eyes to mine. ‘It was Athene’s.’
I frowned, unsure about whether this Athene woman was a family member or perhaps even an ex. The thought of that was weird; Zach hadn’t ever talked about his personal life.
‘She was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war,’ he explained. ‘And an owl was her bird…’
‘Like Hedwig in Harry Potter?’ I said quickly, wanting to cover up the fact I’d assumed Athene was an ex-girlfriend.
Zach grinned. ‘Kind of. Her owl symbolizes wisdom, and sat on Athene’s right shoulder, her blind side, so she could see the whole truth. So that’s why she’s here, on my right arm.’
I nodded slowly, ashamed that my classics knowledge was so feeble.
‘What about that one?’ I asked, nodding at the legs of the man in winged sandals.
‘This is Perseus,’ said Zach, smoothing his hand over his other arm.
I winced at him, uncertain about the name again.
‘The Greek hero who killed Medusa. You know, the gorgon who had snakes for hair?’
‘Kind of,’ I replied, recalling a childhood book of Greek myths and a woman with a green face and serpents twisting around her head.
‘Perseus killed her and then a sea monster called Cetus,’ went on Zach.
‘Why?’
‘Why did he kill them?’
I nodded.
‘Why do you think? For the love of a beautiful woman.’
He grinned as I blushed. ‘But why did you pick him?’ I said quickly, trying to cover my coyness.
‘It was my favourite story when I was younger. Mum’s a teacher. I told you that, right?’
I nodded. ‘Yeah, but that’s kind of all I know. What’s your deal? All I really know is that you’re Norris’s mysterious nephew.’
Zach sucked in a breath. ‘Another beer first?’
I nodded and, as he took the empties to the kitchen, I realized I was enjoying myself. I’d never spoken this openly about my writing or my counting with Rory. We hadn’t bickered. No awkward silences either. The only weirdness was being overlooked by the cardboard cut-out of Wally.
He brought back another two bottles and handed me one before sitting. I took it and waited for him to speak.
‘So I’m Norris’s nephew but I don’t actually know my dad, his brother.’
‘Huh?’
‘Never knew him. He walked out when I was born, moved to Australia. Mum brought me up by herself. Well, with help from Norris. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he’s pretty useless with money?’
I smiled and nodded.
‘He paid for a lot of stuff which I don’t think he could really afford. Mum’s car. Holidays. And he gave me my first camera when I was thirteen.’
‘It’s weird, I’ve worked with him for five years and never knew any of this.’
Zach shrugged. ‘He’s private about it. I think he’s ashamed of his own brother and felt like he had to make up for him.’
‘And now you’re paying it back?’
‘Trying to, if we can keep this place going,’ he said, looking around us.
‘But hang on, why the tattoo? You said your mum’s a teacher?’
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘She’s an English teacher and used to read me the classics when I was younger. Perseus was always my favourite because he has a happy ending, unlike most of the others who are killed by a ten-headed lion or murdered by their own family. And he ends up in the sky, the Perseus constellation.’
‘You know your Greeks,’ I said, smiling. I felt guilty at making so many assumptions about Zach – dishevelled, coffee-throwing Zach – that were unfair.