It’s sorta weird, sorta not, that I haven’t had a Cocktail Talk post before (at least that I or various search engines can remember) from a William Trevor story or book. I mean, he’s awesome, and I’ve read a serious amount of words that originally came from his typewriter, especially on the story side, though admittedly a number of his novels, too, and watched movies made from them as well. Okay, maybe it’s really weird! But his characters don’t tend to be cocktail-ing it up, or maybe I’m too involved in the stories to fold over the page corners as I usually do to remind myself of quotes that might work. However! I was recently re-reading his story collect Cheating At Canasta, in which you’ll find the story “Old Flame,” and found the below gem (I wish La Mabury was in my office – I’d be nicer), which felt the ideal way to finally bring the Trevor Cocktail Talking to life.