“I don’t care. So no quiet times with yummy Zane? No stolen glances? Wait. Who paid for all this? The tickets, the motel, the flash breakfast? I know it wasn’t you. Did your granddad win the Lotto?”
“Granddad was meant to pay. That’s the only reason we went.” Skylar had to admit this, didn’t she? She had to talk it over withsomebody,and her grandfather wasn’t exactly a neutral party. “I think Zane paid for the tickets, though, and I know he paid for breakfast. I was so embarrassed.”
Jess was frowning. And still ignoring the crisps. Skylar took two. There was only so much self-control a woman had. “Did he seem like he minded? Not exactly poverty-stricken, is he?”
“None of it was even his idea!” Skylar said. She’d raised her voice, somehow, so she lowered it. “But he seemed fine with paying. He’s very … he’s kind. A good dad, too, I think. Actually.” The crisps were absolutely delicious. She wanted all of them.
“Uh-huh.” Jess could’ve shot lasers from those eyes, so deeply were they boring into Skylar’s soul. “So you didn’t have a private chat at all.”
“Well, yes. A bit. After the match, you know. The kids were all asleep, of course, and the grandparents otherwise engaged. I happened to be sitting outside, so …” She shrugged.
“It was pissing down on Saturday night,” Jess pointed out. “But you happened to go sit outside.”
“Not in Hamilton, it wasn’t. Not by then. Eleven, eleven-thirty, like that. And I didn’t sit out there tomeethim! I sat out there because … because I was keyed up from the evening, and it’s a bit crap to sit in a motel room by yourself. Also, Granddad had left me a bottle of wine to make up for dumping all the kids on me. I had a blanket around me, and I was in my PJs and slippers. I doubt Zane was overwhelmed by lust. We had a glass of wine together and chatted a bit, that’s all. He may have been winding down after the match himself. It can’t be easy to turn off that much energy. It was pretty brutal, and he played …” She had to catch her breath for some reason. “Really hard. I think he must always play like that. He’s an intense man. Not just during the rugby. All the time.”
“I’ve noticed,” Jess said. “So about this folding table and chairs …”
“Having them for tea on Sunday,” Skylar said with as much airiness as she could muster. “Ten of us, and I’ve got space for six. At least he said not to invite his brothers. Or his sister. Isawhis sister, but I forgot all about her. How did I do that?”
“I cannot imagine.” Jess’s tone was dry as dust. “And you invited them why?”
“To pay him back, of course. He bought us breakfast! And then those tickets. It’s the least I can do.”
Jess wrapped up her sandwich, bundled it with the remains of the crisps, and instead of saving the packet to gnaw at in the car on the way home from school like a starving dog, as any normal person would have done, tossed it into the rubbish. “Mm-hmm. Right.”
“But wait.” The bell would ring any minute, but this was the question she had to ask. “Obviously I can’t date the man. Have a relationship with him.”
“Sleep with him,” Jess clarified.
“Yes. Since he mentioned it that time, I mean the ‘date’ part. Not that hesaidsex, but …”
“But everything in his bodydoessay ‘sex,’” Jess said. “That is one focused man. Imagine all that attention turned on you.”
“That’s what I said! It’s obvious to you too, then. Good. It was a bit out there, saying that, but if it’s obvious …”
“Wait. You said thistohim? About …” Jess twirled her hand in the air. “The attention and the focus and all that? About it being focused onyou?”
“Hypothetically,” Skylar said. “We were talking about his wife and his kids and all that, and it came up.”
“It. Came.Up.”
“Well, yes. As it does. So anyway, setting that aside, obviously anything between us is out, not that I would. But a family relationship is different, isn’t it? A casual family relationship? That would be OK, right? You know the kids are going to mention it. Georgia’sgoing to mention it, for one thing, and she’s in my class! But if it’s just having my granddad’s new love’s whanau over for tea, obviously there’s nothing to see, is there? Because if it would be dodgy, of course, I’d just … well, I can’tcancel,but it would be one dinner and done. Or I could cancel and explain the rules. Maybe take him … food, or something. A gift of food.”
“Like, for example, a lovely kale salad,” Jess said.
“They eat sushi after the match. He told me so. Maybe he loves kale salad. Maybe he can’t get enough of it. So it’s too dangerous, you think?” She didn’t want to admit how disappointed she felt about that. Shewassome kind of would-be rugby groupie! When she saw Zane next, she’d take care to be brisk. Kind. Professional.
“I think you should have him to tea,” Jess said. “And then have himfortea. If you can get away with it.”
“Ha,” Skylar said. “But a casual family tea’s OK?”
“And you’re going to keep it at that,” Jess said. “Even if he stares intently into your beautiful eyes, wraps a curl around his finger, puts his other hand on your face, and says, ‘Skylar.You’ve bewitched me. I have to have you. I can think of nothing else.’”
Skylar looked at the clock. One minute until the bell. She stood up fast, shoved her salad container and fork into her bag, and said, “Obviously not happening. Too silly for words. I shouldn’t have asked anyway, because I know it’s perfectly all right. It’s a simple family tea. So never mind.”
13
VARIOUS DISASTERS
