“Because no one watches them!” Kai snapped.
Tane’s jaw dropped. “How dare you.”
I couldn’t stop laughing, partly because they were idiots and partly because the whole loud, messy dynamic felt … weirdly good. It was like something I’d never had before, but suddenly wanted more of.
Not like I’d ever get to see any of these places, so I’d just have to take their word for it.
“So what’s better?” I casually stabbed another forkful of dessert.
I deliberately averted my gaze at the smash-lova, biting the inside of my cheek to hide the smile threatening to break free.
Both men gasped in unison, as though I’d asked them to sacrifice a firstborn child.
Kai recovered first. “Australia.”
“New Zealand,” Tane countered, sounding as scandalized as Gran had been when she first discovered Mrs. de Santis ‘stealing’ her brownie recipe (yeah, there’s a pattern there).
Risking a quick peek, I found them glaring at each other, both with equally betrayed, dramatic expressions on their faces.
I stoked the fire, biting back a snort. “Huh. Interesting. One of you is definitely wrong.”
Kai pointed his fork at Tane. “He’s biased. Chronic case of national pride disease.”
Tane didn’t hesitate. “Well, at least I managed to run away from a magpie chasing me.”
My head snapped up and Kai’s face turned murderous. “I panicked!”
“Oh?” I raised my brows in delight.
“He panicked, alright. So badly, in fact, that instead of running away, he kept running in circles around the very tree in which said magpie had its nest,’” Tane deadpanned.
“I can still hear the flapping of the wings.” Kai shuddered.
“Right,” I hummed. “And you didn’t think to just run straight?”
“You have no idea what it’s like when they swoop down on you,” Kai insisted. “They chaseeveryone!”
Tane looked at me, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. “It singled him out.”
Kai groaned as I burst into laughter.
I pressed a fist against my mouth, trying — and failing — to stop myself laughing.
“A magpie,” I contemplated. “You know they’re, like, small-ish birds, right?”
Kai muttered something sounding like, “They are small but vicious!” which only made it worse. I doubled over, actually wiping tears from my eyes as I imagined him running in circles around a tree, being chased by a bird.
“Oh, this is—” I gasped, “—this is the greatest day of my life.”
Kai dropped his face into his hands. “Please don’t encourage him.”
“Encourage him?” I snorted. “I’m inviting him to continue. Tane, I am begging you. More.”
Tane sat back with the serene satisfaction of a man who had been waitingyearsfor an eager audience.
“Well,” he conceded, folding his arms with theatrical gravity, “since you asked…”
Kai’s head snapped up. “Uncle. No.”
