He said: ‘I have something to ask you. I’m opening a new cafe in Bronte. We don’t have occupants yet. It’s a good location, near the beach. Lots of people walking the street down there. And you can take the cafe for nothing. Change the name if you want. That goes without saying. You don’t want my name on the sign. Only problem is that there’s no house out the back. No rooms like the Achillion.’

‘We don’t need it. We don’t want your help.’

‘You should think about it.’

Lucky put up his hand, called to the staff for some menus.

‘I’m going, Lucky.’

‘Think about what I said. Please. Will you come back in?’

‘I won’t set foot in a Lucky’s restaurant again. We’ll never have anything to do with your business.’

The menus arrived courtesy of a meek waiter who retreated after hearing Valia’s last sentence.

‘Let’s meet again next week and talk,’ said Lucky. ‘But not in the cafe next time. We’ll go sit on a bench somewhere. Is that a thing we could do?’

‘No, we can’t.’

On the footpath they did not embrace. The space between them expanded and Valia turned and walked past the tobacco shop. The green sign of a coal cellar, an Italian baker, a bookstore. Leaves and pollen flew everywhere. Lucky, watching through the window, took a deep breath and held it for a long time. Of course he loved her. Permanence in the face of life’s transience.

Chapter 19: 1975

1975

1.

Two investors, Shirley and Sam Gibson, wife and husband, had contacted Lucky a few months back. ‘Excuse this call out of the blue,’ said Shirley when she called him one Monday morning. They had a significant proposal, she said, an idea they wanted to discuss with him in person, next week perhaps. But Shirley called again two days before that initial appointment and cancelled (something had come up), and since then Shirley and Sam had cancelled four meetings with Lucky, all at a day or two’s notice. As a rule, if anyone cancelled on Lucky more than twice he told them to go fuck themselves. He kept making an exception for the investors—that was how they introduced themselves, as ‘two people who make a living by investing in other people’s businesses’. After each postponement they sent him a case of wine by way of apology. Lucky had a feeling that something good was about to happen with Shirley and Sam.