Duncan stepped back and said, “You were brilliant tonight, Dad! I was scared all through the match that you wouldn’t win, because France is only two places down on the ladder, and their halfback was World Rugby Player of the Year last year, and they wanted to win so much, you could tell. When they went ahead in the second half, I wasreallyscared. You didn’t look scared, though. Not ever.”
“Nah, mate,” Zane said. “Scared doesn’t come into it. You keep playing, that’s all.”
“You always say ‘composure,’” Duncan said. “How do you get composure?”
“Practice,” Zane said. “Focus.” Then he looked back at Scarlett. “Thought I told you to go to bed. All of you, in fact. Bedtime.”
Somehow, though, Olive was in the room now. “Why are you all so noisy?” she asked. “Why are you allup?”
“Because our Dad came home,” Scarlett said. “And I found him kissing your mum.”
“Oh.” Olive seemed to consider that. “Is that bad? It’s what happens in romance books, and everybody likes romancebooks. They’re not married to anybody else, so it’s not having an affair. That’s the only really bad thing.”
“How do you know about having affairs?” Skylar asked, though it wasn’t the point. “What are youreading?”
“Advice columns and things,” Olive said, as if that were obvious. “Online. There’s one on Reddit called, ‘Am I the Asshole?’ It’s full of things like affairs, and people get to say what they think about it, so it’s interesting about human nature. More than romance books, really.”
“This isn’t a romance book,” Scarlett said. “It’s mydad.”
“Oh,” Olive said. “Doesn’t he like romance? My mum likes romance. She’s been reading this romance series this holidays, and she’s already on Book Four. She reads them all the time, even when she’s cooking dinner, so I know she really likes them.”
Oh, bugger. Her secret was out. Had Olive looked inside any of those books? How Skylar hoped not. “They’re fantasy,” she said, knowing she was turning red. “That is, they’re in the fantasy genre. Very compelling. Literarily.”
“I know your mum likes romance,” Scarlett said, as if Skylar hadn’t spoken. “I saw. She was kissing my dad. Like I justsaid.”
“No,” Zane said.“Iwas kissingher.Not that it’s any of your business. Any of you.”
“If it’s our mum,” Finlay said, “I think it’s alittlebit our business.”
“Thankyou,” Scarlett said.
“I wasn’t agreeing with you,” Finlay said. “I was just pointing it out.”
“Thennothank you,” Scarlett said.
Skylar couldn’t help it. She started to laugh. Covering her mouth with her hand, trying to keep it quiet. Zane looked at her, startled, and she flapped a hand at him. Something like,I’m choking, that’s all.
He said, “Bloody hell. I’m sorry. Let me get these kids out of here.”
What? Oh, he thought she was crying. “No,” she said, trying to tamp the laughter down. Hysteria, probably, or just fatigue, because the giggles refused to be tamped. “I’m laughing. It’s just so … sostupid.Here I am—” She gestured wildly to the PJs. “Still so hopelesslyme,and your kids think I’m some kind of black-widow homewrecker!”
“What’s a homewrecker?’ Duncan asked. “I don’t think I think that. You haven’t wrecked anything so far.”
“Yes, she has,” Scarlett said. She’s?—”
“Out,” Zane said. “All of you. Off to bed. It’s too bloody late for this.”
“You swear a lot,” Olive said.
“Olive,”Skylar said.
“What?” Olive said. “He does. You always say not to swear, and he does.”
“Go to bed,” Skylar said. “You and Finlay both. Go.”
“OK,” Finlay said. “Because I don’t understand any of this.”
“Good,” Zane said. “Oh— Good work with the cricket bat, bro.”
