Bloody money. Kim isn’t so up-in-the-clouds as to think it doesn’t matter, but she’s always been of the view that if she hasenough, then more doesn’t matter. She remembers a blessing:I wish you enough.She can’t remember where she heard it, but it’s something she’s always believed in. Enough. Sufficient.
But just as she doesn’t push her vegetarianism on Bella, she shouldn’t pushenoughon her daughter either. Bella may have needs in the future. Money now could be theenoughof the future.
Soccer has restarted, and with it Bella’s grumbles that she and Cami aren’t on the same team. Kim reminds her that Bellais on the same team as Jorie, and Cami is on the same team as Sylvie, and any change would upset those friendships.
Bella still grumbles, though.
“Are you ready?” She calls down the hall to Bella’s room.
“Yes.” Bella comes out already wearing her boots, socks rolled tight up to her knees like her hero Mary Fowler. They will fall down in the first two minutes of play, but that doesn’t matter.
“Is it training today?”
Bella nods. “I hope we practice penalties. Cami and I are getting really good.”
At the pitch, Bella runs off to join Jorie, and Kim finds Suze in the stand. She waves to her and points to the coffee wagon that always does a roaring trade among parents forced to sit on cold benches in the gusty days of autumn.
Five minutes later, clutching two coffees, she ascends the stand to where Suze sits.
“Thanks.” Suze takes the coffee. “I need this. Jorie couldn’t find her socks this morning, the long pair that go over her knees, so I didn’t have time for coffee. Tell me something new and exciting that isn’t about nine-year-olds.”
Kim sifts over the pieces in her mind: Danika, Chris, money, the lawyer’s details that her mother emailed to her. Her head is too full to think about any of them. Besides, none of that fits Suze’s request for something “new and exciting”. More like “same-old and stressful”.
“Remember the client I had a couple of months back? The one who came over from England to wrap up her brother’s affairs?”
“With the house full of junk?” Suze nods. “Did they sell the house?”
“Not yet, according to Lucinda. But she emailed me, saying she was back in Melbourne for a week—something to do with the estate again—and asked if I’d like to meet for coffee.”
“As in a date? Or she wants to pick your brains for local knowledge?”
“The latter, I think. I got no queer vibes from her before.”
“Doesn’t mean they’re not there. She was stressed and upset when you saw her last.”
“She probably wants a recommendation for a demolition company. The house was in a terrible state.”
“She could get that in an email.” Suze nudges Kim hard enough that her coffee sloshes. “It’s a date.”
“Yeah, nah. Not interested.” There’s simply too much in Kim’s head right now to consider dating anyone. And if she’s honest with herself, Danika still occupies that grey area that might be marked “romantic interest” or might just be “good friend”.
“You’re a lousy liar.” Suze sips her coffee. “Be honest; you’re holding out for Danika.”
“I don’t know, Suze.” She glances at the enormous clock on the clubhouse wall. They have at least an hour more to wait. With instant determination, she says, “But there’s this,” and starts telling Suze everything her mother said about Chris’s will or lack thereof, about inheritance, and about Bella’s right to something.
Suze listens until the end without a word, her gaze never leaving Kim’s face.
“And that’s it,” Kim concludes. “And I don’t know whether to pry into this or leave it well alone.”
“Talk to Danika for a start,” Suze says. “You’re assuming a lot. You’re assuming Danika either hasn’t thought of this or is hoping you won’t. She strikes me as a decent person—I think she’d do the right thing.”
“What if she doesn’t? What if she wants to lawyer up and fight?”
“Talk,” Suze says firmly. “Maybe Chris left a whole pile of debt—he had two families after all—maybe he and Danika had an airtight prenup, maybe Danika brought all the assets into the marriage. Just don’t obsess about it when you don’t have the facts.”
Kim stares out at the pitch where the kids are dribbling soccer balls through rows of poles. It reminds Kim of what Bella and Cami do with their hobby horses.
“I have a date tomorrow night,” Suze says. “And don’t say it’s about time.”
