“Why don’t you ask your mum to put you in a holiday program, then?” Scarlett asked. “Heaps of kids I know used to do Kelly Club. They do things like cooking and games, but they go places, too. If you did that, you wouldn’t have to whinge.”
“Because we’re not rich like you?” Finlay said, flaring up just like that. “It’s sixty dollars a day for each kid, did you think of that?”
“Excuseme,”Scarlett said. “I was only trying to help.”
“I like doing activities,” Olive said, “but I don’t really mind. I like reading and playing at home, and helping Granddad.”
“Getting to be quite a good little DIYer,” Geoffrey said. “Olive looks up all the demonstrations for me on thatYouTube. She says it’s in case I need more information, but it’s really so she can check whether I’m doing it right.”
“No it isn’t,” Olive said seriously. “It’s because I want to remember how for the future. I put the video in my library, and then if I ever need to do it and you’re dead, I’ll know how.”
That brought down the house. Even Skylar laughed, though she looked guilty about it. Olive said, looking around, “Why is that funny?”
“Because people don’t like to talk about other people dying,” Finlay said, “even though it’s realistic. Granddad’s really old, so he probablywilldie soon, but you’re not meant to say.”
“Oh,” Olive said. “That seems a bit silly.”
“Ialways think so,” Finlay said. “But most people don’t like to be realistic.”
Scarlett said, “You’re both so weird, I can’t even. If I told my Nan she’d probably die soon, she’d— Dunno. She wouldn’t cry, because Nan doesn’t cry, but something bad would happen tome.”
“Even though that’s realistic, too,” Finlay said. “She has flu now. Old people get pneumonia after they have flu, and then they die. It happens all the time.”
“Well, this is cheerful,” Jade said. “I knowIfeel wildly optimistic.”
“That’s because you’re not very old,” Finlay said, “so you don’t have to think so much about dying yet.”
“Oh, is that it,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Finlay,” Skylar said, “that wasn’t appropriate. You should tell your granddad that you’re sorry.”
“Never mind me,” Geoffrey said. “There’s more life in me than you know. And Finlay’s hit on the very idea I wanted to discuss.”
“What, your imminent death?” Jade asked.
“No,” he said. “Our plan to have Skylar and the kids come stay in Wellington for the school holidays.”
Skylar said, “Is this the perfect venue to discuss this topic, I wonder?” She tried to say it lightly, but wasn’t sure it had come across that way. Would her granddadstop?
“Ooh,” Jade said. “The plot thickens intriguingly.” She was looking between Zane and Skylar. Skylar was probably red again, and Zane … Skylar couldn’t tell how Zane felt. He wasn’t exactly the most powerful emoter she’d ever met. Why was that so appealing? Possibly because Peter had been a bit whiny? She could admit it. She had nothing to protect anymore.
As for Jade, she had the kind of looks and confidence Skylar always admired—statuesque and curvy, with curly dark hair and huge brown eyes, and a curving mouth that always seemed to want to smile. Was she ever lost for a snappy retort? Skylar would bet not. Right now, though, she could have done without it, so she said, “Pudding. Help me clear the table, kids.”
Zane stood up. “We’ll all do it. The boys and I will do the washing-up, too. Least we can do.”
“We will?” Jack asked.
Zane fixed him with the kind of stare associated with basilisks. “Yes,” he enunciated. “We will. As Skylar’s sacrificed her morning to cook for us.”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” Gordon said, getting to his feet. “Just because I’d like to be invited again. My cooking skills are definitely still subpar.” And when Skylar set out the lemon pudding cake fifteen minutes later, he sighed and said, “I have a proposal of my own. I’ll come to dinner every night you cook, and do the washing-up after.”
“No,” Zane said. “Find your own.” Which gave Skylar a little glow, even though it wasn’t applicable, of course.
If she’d hoped Granddad’s wildly inappropriate topic would be put to rest by that flurry of activity, she was disappointed. As soon as they were all seated again and digging into their pudding, he said, “So. The Wellington plan.”
“Could we talk about this later, please?” she asked, since subtlety hadn’t worked.
“No,” he said, “because it depends on Zane as well, and as you go skittering away anytime you get close to the man, I’d better seize my chance.”
