“Neens,” he started, but the nickname only made her glower more fiercely.
“Don’t ‘Neens’ me, Nicholas. Answer the question.”
“I was going to text you; I just wanted to get through the wedding first. I’m staying down near Marcus’s mum’s place, and I’ve been busy with—”
“Yes, errands and projects, I heard you.” Errands, projects, and the human hurricane who had been distracting him from both, and from how hard and complicated it felt to be home after so many years. Distracting him enough that he would take her to this place where they risked running into all the things he’d been hiding from.
“I was going to text you when it was over, when I had a little more time.” She didn’t look like she believed him, but it was the truth. He’d thought about it as they’d driven up to Leura, Carly’s “yet” fresh in his mind.
“Uh-huh,” Nina said, the sound dripping in skepticism. He glanced over her shoulder at the coffee shop, hoping Carly would emerge soon. She might be a hand grenade, but for once she wasn’t the angriest woman in his vicinity, and he wanted her back beside him.
“I was planning to text you, I promise, but like you said, last time …”
“Last time was between you and Dad and Mum, not me. I wasn’t even there. Don’t cut me out just because things are hard between you three. You and me, we’re a whole separate thing. Or I thought we were.”
Nick ran his hand over his hair again and sighed. She was right. As stilted and infrequent as his contact had been with his parents since his last trip, things had been okay with Nina. They texted; they did occasional video chats. He sent her birthday cards, mailing them a month in advance to make sure they got to her on time. When she called him, she provided vague updates about his parents’ lives—Dad had retired and joined the local men’s shed, Mum’s ladies’ bushwalking group was planning a big trip to Victoria—but mostly they talked about safe topics. Work, travel, TV, podcasts.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you I was coming.”
She shrugged, the paper bags at her side crackling with the movement. “How would you like it if I came to Paris and didn’t tell you I was there?”
He tipped his head to the side, a smile sneaking into his voice. “Who would you stay with? Who would you force to go to a rave with you even though they had company class in the morning and needed more than an hour and a half of sleep?”
Her face cracked into a sly grin, possibly against her will. The whole family had come to visit him in Munich for his mum’s fiftieth, and Nina, newly eighteen and celebrating the end of high school, had stayed an extra week, dragging him out on the town every night. The morning after that rave, no amount of spotting could have kept him from feeling dizzy and nauseated during pirouettes. He’d never let her hear the end of it.
“Fair point. But I don’t do raves anymore. I’m a tired old lady.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “You’re not even thirty.”
“How long are you staying?”
“Up here? We’re not. We were about to drive back down to Sydney.”
Nina gave him a look that said she knew he’d understood her question, even if he’d chosen to answer a different one.
“I don’t really know yet. Work is—”
“Skim cappuccino for you, and an American iced coffee for me,” Carly called from a few metres up the hill, and a second later she appeared at his side.
“Thanks,” he said automatically, giving her a grateful smile. She’d saved him from having to invent some lie to tell Nina about his work. Or worse, from telling her the truth. And as far as he knew, her career was on track, steady and reliable. Unlike his. Their fingers brushed as Carly handed over the warm cup, and Nick watched as Nina’s eyes flicked from their hands to his face, then to Carly’s.
“How’s Delphine going?” she asked pointedly. Shit. Yet another thing he’d hidden from her. Nick swallowed, then glanced sideways at Carly. What choice did he have? He couldn’t stand here and lie about still being with Delphine right in front of the woman he’d kissed barely half an hour ago. He looked down at his sister and told her the truth.
“I don’t know. We broke up a few months ago,” he said, keeping his voice level and matter of fact. Which it was. It was a matter of fact that he and Delphine Delacroix were no longer together. That she no longer loved him. And that since he’d met Carly, since Carly had half killed him with her luggage trolley, he’d barely thought about his ex-girlfriend.
“Crap, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Nina said, and he nodded. She didn’t know because he hadn’t told her.
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She raised an eyebrow and looked like she was about to ask about him and Carly, but he was too quick for her. “We should get going; we’ve got another wedding errand to take care of tonight. But I’ll call you after the wedding and we’ll hang out, okay?”
“Wait, you should stay for dinner. I’m going to Mum and Dad’s. I know it’s short notice, but they can make enough for two more.”
Nick’s stomach somersaulted and he felt his pulse speed. “Neens, I can’t. Not today.”
“Come on, please? I’ll be there. And I know they’ll be happy to see you, even if … even if things are off.”
“I—”
“You came all this way and didn’t tell us. Now you’re not even going to come home for dinner?”
