Yes, you have. Fruit juice?
'I was looking for caffeine, actually/
'How could I forget? Breakfasts on the terrace… me with my fruit and grain-cakes, you with your caffeine and eggs and salt-pork/
I filled a pan from the sink pump and lit the stove. Then I rinsed out the pot. 'I suppose now's your opportunity to tell me "I told you so"/1 said.
"What do you mean?'
You always said fruit and grain-loaf was the path to a healthy life, remember? You used to go on about diet and fibre and all sorts. Told me my intake of caffeine and alcohol and red meat would kill me/
'I take it back/
'Really?'
'It won't be your diet that kills you, Gregor/ she said, suddenly biting at a fingernail.
You were right, of course. Look at you/
'I'd rather not/ she said, crushing a ploin with excessive force.
You're as lovely as the day I first met you/
'The day you first met me, Gregor Eisenhorn, you were half-comatose with anaesthetic and I was wearing a scrub mask.'
'Ah. How could I forget?'
She looked at me witheringly.
'Still/ I said. 'I'm not lying. I treated you badly. I'm still treating you badly. Someone like you doesn't deserve that.'
She tasted her pulpy juice drink. 'I won't argue with any of that. But… it's nice to hear you admit it.'
'It's the truth. So's the fact you're still lovely.'
She sighed. 'Juvenat programs are all easy to administer. I look this way thanks to Imperial science, not fruit juice.'
'I still believe in fruit juice.'
She grinned. You don't look so bad yourself, red meat and caffeine considered.'
The pan began to boil. 'I feel about a thousand years old next to you. Life has not treated me kindly'
'Oh, I don't know. There's a nobility about your scars. Something very masculine about the way you wear your age well.'
I started to look in cupboards for the ground beans.
'That canister there/ she said. 'The chicory blend you always used. I've never lost the taste for it.'
I took the tin canister and spooned out several measures into the pot. 'Crezia/ I said, 'you should have let go of me a long time ago. I was never any good for you. I was never any good for anyone, truth be told.'
'I know/ she said. 'But I can't. That's just the way of things/
I poured the boiling water into the pot and let it stand.
'How's Alizebeth?' she asked suddenly.
I had been sort of waiting for that. I had broken my long relationship with Crezia Berschilde in the end because of Bequin. Even though I knew Alizebeth and I could never be together in any way except friends, I knew I would never get past my love for her. It was too much in the way, and that could never be fair on Crezia.