Chapter 5 #2
“No worries,” Zane said. “Betting’s stupid anyway. Here’s a secret for you. Nobody really knows who’s going to win, not in a reasonably close matchup, which is the only kind where it even makes sense to bet. If it were that easy to tell, why would anyone watch the match?”
“Nan could put the money on,” Duncan said. “Except that I’m not good enough at it yet to win most of the time. If I practiced, though, I’d get better.”
“Nan could not put the money on,” Nan said. “I’ll put my faith in your dad, thanks very much.”
“Nice,” Scarlett said. “You’re supposed to encourage children to follow their interests. I can’t believe I’m the only one here who knows that. What are you and Dad going to say when Duncan is old enough to buy shares himself, and he makes a million dollars a year?”
“I’ll say,” Zane said, from where he was carving chops from that rack of lamb, “that he’s welcome to have three kids of his own and support them via his riches, just for the joy of listening to them speculate about how long it’ll be before he loses it all.
The wonders of parenthood, eh.” He grabbed the platter of chops and got the dish of veggies from the oven.
“Brilliant choice of tucker, Nan. Fits into my meal plan perfectly.”
They were halfway through dinner when Nan said, “You’ll need to stay home this Thursday evening, Zane.
Not Friday, no worries; I’ll be here while you’re at the hotel before your match.
No running off to do more of that speed dating on Thursday, though.
You can tell me it was all your sister’s idea, but you didn’t have to say yes, did you? ”
“Uh … no,” Zane said. “I didn’t. No worries, I’m not burning to try it again. And Thursday’s fine. I’ve told you, go out whenever you can. You normally don’t, so I’ve stopped saying it.”
“I’m seventy-six years old,” she said. “Where would I go that’s nicer than my house, where the kitchen and bath are fixed the way I like and the garden’s ready for me anytime I fancy a bit of outdoor work?
I have my book group and my Tai Chi and yoga classes, but they don’t meet at night, do they?
That’s because nobody wants to drive after dark.
Consider how fortunate you are that I can still do that. ”
“So why are you going out on Thursday night,” Scarlett asked, “if you don’t like it?”
“Cheeky,” Nan said. “I have a date, if you must know.”
“Really?” Duncan said. “Aren’t you too old to have dates?”
Scarlett said, “You’re such a child, Duncan. Of course Nan isn’t too old, as long as they don’t—you know.”
“As long as we don’t what?” Nan asked, the light of battle in her dark eyes.
Scarlett glanced around the table, leaned forward, and whispered, “S-E-X,” in a portentous manner.
Then went on in a normal voice, “But you can’t really be interested, can you?
I mean, Dad’s not even interested anymore.
It’s really more something for young people.
Old people holding hands is cute, though.
That’s what everyone says. ‘Oh, they’re so cute. ’”
Zane had no idea how to answer this one. You didn’t tell your twelve-year-old daughter, “Of course I’m still interested in sex. I’m still having sex. Sometimes. Just because you don’t watch me do it, that doesn’t mean I’ve given up.”
“I haven’t had sex in five years.” Skylar had said. Why not? She’d said she had kids, but then, so did he, and he wasn’t missing out. Of course, she probably wasn’t spoilt for choice amongst the primary-school teachers, and if you couldn’t even date a parent …
Oh. His grandmother. He said, “Old people aren’t so different from anybody else.
Everybody needs love, eh, and look how glamorous she still is.
Of course she’d attract the fellas. I’m only surprised they haven’t been hanging about before this.
And any more detail than that about her love life is none of your business. Anybody I know?” he asked her.
“Geoffrey Bulstrode,” she said. “A nice man, and he makes me laugh. We’ve been chatting at the school drop-off for months now, and lately, we’ve been going for coffee after, and a few other things as well. Today, he asked me to dinner. A proper date and all.”
“Nan,” Scarlett said. “You mean he has a kid in school?” She looked at Duncan, horrified, and he looked back at her, possibly confused. Duncan probably didn’t spend much time thinking about romantic age gaps.
Nan said, “Geoffrey has great-grandchildren in school, just like me. Of course he does. What would I do with some thirty-year-old? Probably want to change his nappy. And we aren’t ‘cute.’ We’re two grown people who enjoy each other’s company and are going to spend a bit more time together and see how we go.
Eat your dinner, Georgia. Your dad has work to do tonight, and as he is the only one earning a wage here, we need to get on with it and let him do it. ”
“Too right,” Zane said. At least the kids hadn’t gone back to discussing Jade’s column, which had provided merriment for all, and also titanic levels of embarrassment for Scarlett.
They’d had plenty of, “How will I show my face?” and also a suggestion that she overhaul his wardrobe and grooming products.
A suggestion he’d rejected, only to have her sigh gustily and mutter, “Hopeless.”
He was a rugby forward. He was a captain.
He was a bloody All Black! He was a man who knew when and how to lay down the law with some pretty tough humans.
And, yes, he was in funds. His kids had used to think he walked on water.
How had he suddenly become an embarrassment to his daughter and a potential bankrupt to his son?
The problem with kids, he was beginning to suspect, was that they grew up. At least Georgia still thought he was all-powerful. For another year or two, anyway.