Geoffrey said, “What did you do to your arms? Did you fall yesterday, too?”
“What?” Deer in the headlights, that was that look.
“Your elbows,” Geoffrey said. “They’re scraped.”
“Ah,” Skylar said. “Well, I … well …” She pulled on the sleeves of her T-shirt as if that would hide the red marks. So much for breeziness. Also so much for his sexual prowess, when she came out of it with carpet burn. What had he been thinking?
He knew the answer. He hadn’t been thinking.
“Sit down,” he said, standing to give her his seat. “Not much to eat, I’m afraid, but there’s still bread and cheese and a little fruit. Some canned stuff for later, fortunately, but cold canned Wattie’s spaghetti probably doesn’t excite you for breakfast. I’ll fix you a plate, shall I? And I know, a coffee wouldn’t come amiss, but here we all are, deprived addicts.” Giving her time to recover, he hoped.
“Oh,” she said. “Well, thank you. Though I could get it myself, of course.”
“I know you could,” he said. “But I’d like to do it for you.” Bloody hell, but she was a hard woman to help. He headed into the kitchen, but kept his ears open. Also his eyes, because she still didn’t look comfortable, did she?
“So isn’t anybody going to say?” Jade asked.
“About what?” Skylar said. Aiming for that breeziness again, but it wasn’t working. The poor woman had had sex—pretty inadequate sex, in his expert opinion—for the first time in years, and now she seemed to think she’d have to face a tribunal over it. But then, she’d had an early lesson in The Consequences of Your Actions, and lessons like that tended to stick around.
“About your heroism, of course,” Jade said.
“My what?” She looked relieved. She also looked confused.
“Excuse me?” Jade said. “How you ran out of Te Papa and risked your life to get seventeen people upstairs to safety? People who’d definitely have drowned otherwise? They didn’t know your name, but we do, of course. Should we ring the network and out you?”
“They had a whole part of the program about it, Mum,” Finlay said. “With this really old man who said you almost got killed helping him. I didn’t know you almost got killed.”
“That was very scary to know,” Olive agreed. “Although sometimes TV shows say things like that because it’s dramatic. They talked about the All Blacks rescuing people,too. They did that second, though. I wonder if it makes the All Blacks feel weird that they weren’t the biggest heroes.”
“They were still heroes,” Scarlett said. “Nobody’s saying who’s the biggest hero!”
“I think Mum was a bigger hero,” Finlay said. “Because she did it alone, and the All Blacks did it together. It’s easier when you do things together.”
“This All Black agrees,” Zane said, coming back and setting down a plate of sliced pears, cheese, and bread and butter in front of Skylar. “Your mum was a hero and no mistake. Definitely more than me.”
“But who’s counting?” Geoffrey said. “Well, I’ll count a bit, I reckon. As she’s my granddaughter.”
Did she get a chance to talk to Zane? She did not. Not that she’d have known what to say. “Thanks for the good time?” Whatdidpeople say, the morning after? Did you just act like you’d had a … sleepover?
Probably. Casual, that was how you acted, as it was casual sex. It was right there in the name!
The minute she’d finished eating—earthquakes were a bloody good diet plan, because she was still hungry, just like she’d still been hungry last night—she stood and said, “Now, Forrest, let’s get you home, shall we?”
“Yes, please,” he said. “Because I want to see my mum very much. Also Fiona, even though she says I’m a bother. But I still hope she didn’t die.”
What do I say to that?she wondered.I can’t tell him, “Oh, I’m sure she didn’t die,” because what if she did?She decided on, “I hope so, too. Is it just your mum at home? Or your mum and dad?”
“Just my mum,” Forrest said. “My dad’s divorced. He lives in Auckland.”
“Well, he’ll be just as happy as your mum to know you’re safe, I’m sure,” Skylar said. “Oh—can I take your car, Granddad?”
“Of course,” he said. “But you shouldn’t go alone. It’s a right mess out there, they say.”
“I’ll take you,” Zane said.
“You realize,” she felt compelled to point out, “that I know how to drive.”
“I do,” he said, not rattled at all. “I also know that two heads are better than one. I’ll drive, and you can keep track of the route, as we’ll likely have to detour.”
