Chapter 12
NEVER MIND
Jess said, “You’re looking oddly … something. Can’t work out what. What did you do this weekend? It was either something very good or something very bad, but I think it was good. Keyed up, is how you look. Also disgustingly fit. The veggie lunches and Body Pump are really doing it for you.”
“Cheers.” Skylar took another bite of her lunch. See, it was working. Good reason to go on with the new meal plan, and never mind that none of the kids but Olive, who barely noticed what she ate, would touch her colorful, crunchy, and extremely healthful meals.
“What is that, anyway?” Jess asked. She was tall and thin and, she’d moaned on more than one occasion, “can’t find a curve to save my life.
” She was eating a ham and cheese sandwich and crisps.
The ham in it was a good four centimeters thick, too.
Jess had to open her mouth wide to even take a bite.
“Buddha bowl,” Skylar said, only slightly glumly. “Chickpeas, roasted sweet potatoes, radishes, carrots, red cabbage, and kale, with some brown rice. It has a dressing, though. Tahini and lemon juice.”
Jess peered at it. “Doesn’t it make you a bit …”
“A bit what?” Skylar took another bite and chewed.
“My mum would say, ‘Doesn’t it give you wind?’ I’m not as proper as all that, so I’ll just say that I’d be farting my way around the classroom like a steam engine if I ate that.”
“Could be worse,” Skylar said. “The recipe suggested cauliflower rice.”
“Definitely a bridge too far,” Jess agreed. “Ugh.”
“And five dollars fifty at Woolie’s for the frozen bag that only serves four. Almost a dollar a serving, and when you spend that, what do you get?”
“Cauliflower,” Jess said.
“Exactly. Whereas I got five KGs of brown rice for less than twenty dollars. A good fifty servings in there. Or possibly a hundred, because I haven’t even made a dent in it.
” She chewed her veggies, not unlike a ruminant of some kind.
It was hard not to lose weight when you had to chew food this fibrous for this long.
Although cows were fairly chubby. “How was your weekend?” she decided to ask.
“Date,” Jess said. “One of the speed-dating blokes. Drink on Saturday night at the pub. I didn’t realize he’d suggested that so he could watch the rugby.
Shouting at the telly and high-fiving with his mates almost the entire time.
I said that I was disappointed he hadn’t suggested something more romantic, and he stared at me like I’d grown a third eye and said, “Really? Heaps more fun than sitting across a table with a glass of wine, though.” She sighed and took another bite of delicious, moist, thick-cut ham. “So that was that.”
“Men will disillusion you,” Skylar said.
“I know, right?” Jess shook her head, then set down her sandwich and grabbed some crispy, salty, crunchy crisps. She spun the bag toward Skylar. “Want some?”
Skylar looked at the crisps gloomily. “No. Thin end of the wedge. I need to keep my streak going. I ate duck salad for breakfast yesterday, though, when I could’ve had French toast with banana whipped custard, maple syrup, and toasted marshmallow ice cream. Major resistance to temptation.”
Jess stared at her, the crisps forgotten. Jess could do that: sit there with an open bag of crisps and not reach for one. “Who took you? I’m never going to believe that you bought duck salad for yourself, let alone the other thing, though it probably wasn’t as dear.”
“That’s where you’d be wrong,” Skylar said. “The French toast was thirty-nine dollars, and the duck salad was only twenty-nine. Another reason I resisted. Even if I’m not paying, thirty-nine dollars for breakfast? And that’s not counting the coffee.”
Jess planted her forearms on the table and stared hard.
“Give it up. Who was it?” Her eyes went wide, and she pointed a manicured finger at Skylar.
“Your granddad watched the kids while you went out, and you spent the night! And he took you someplace with forty-dollar French toast the next morning. Either he’s well in funds, or you’re really talented in bed. ”
“Shhh.” Skylar glanced around. Yes, there was David Sacklett, looking straight at her. She knew she was turning beetroot red, but how could you help it? “I did not,” she hissed at Jess. “Stop. Also, do you have a folding table and chairs?”
“Why would I have a folding table and chairs? I’m single, and my flat’s about forty-five square meters. Maybe I should have a folding table and chairs. It would give me room to do that workout you’ve been doing. I notice that your bum is looking extra-enticing these days, too.”
Again, she didn’t say it softly. Now David was really staring.
“Because I’m doing a barbecue on Sunday,” Skylar said, as airily as she could manage.
“My granddad has a new girlfriend—well, I suspect she’s not that new, but new to us.
And I’m having her whanau round for a barbecue on Sunday.
That’s who got lucky on Saturday night. My granddad. ”
“Oh.” Jess looked deflated, as well she might.
Then she stared at Skylar again. “That still doesn’t explain the breakfast. Your granddad surely didn’t say to the new flame, “That was lovely. So passionate. So romantic. You make me feel a new man. Let’s go out for a leisurely, extravagant brekkie with my daughter and her twelve kids.
Where was this brekkie, anyway? I don’t know anyplace with a menu like that. ”
Skylar sighed. “Hamilton. The Little Honey Café. And it was six kids. Not passionate and not romantic, no worries, except maybe for Granddad and Maureen. They sat at the extreme end of the table and held hands.”
“Hamilton?” Some more staring. “You drove to Hamilton for breakfast? What the hell’s in Hamilton?”
“OK,” Skylar said, “I’m going to tell you, because it’s not a big deal.
It’s so not a big deal. Hamilton for the rugby.
Would you believe, Granddad’s new love is Zane Mahuta’s grandmother.
Small world, eh. Zane has three kids himself, and fun fact, my Finlay and his Scarlett loathe each other. Good times.”
“So you went to Hamilton,” Jess said, “and …”
Another sigh. “Do not shriek. There’s no shrieking allowed, because there’s nothing to shriek about. And don’t tell anyone, either, because it may be … well, it’s not improper, not at all, but it could look improper. And you know how people talk around here.”
“That’s because most people around here are about six years old.
No choice but to focus on the staff. Come on.
Tell. The bell’s going to ring in about ten minutes, and I cannot get through another afternoon with Billy Purdue without this story.
Did I tell you that he takes his—we’ll call it the ‘contents of his nose’—and flicks them at people with his ruler during maths?
Why did I choose this career? It certainly wasn’t for the brilliant pay, or for the swarthy, sexy male colleagues in their well-cut men’s tailoring.
Or, of course, their skin-tight uniforms. Tell. ”
“Four sentences,” Skylar said. “Drive to the rugby. Stay at a motel. Go to breakfast the next morning. Motel and breakfast accompanied by the Mahuta family.”
“So was Zane there too?” Jess asked. “After the rugby?”
“Yes. That was the point, introducing the families. Did I mention that our kids hate each other?”
“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 with somebody, 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 to meet him!
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. I saw his 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 he said sex, but …”
“But everything in his body does say ‘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 this to him? About …” Jess twirled her hand in the air. “The attention and the focus and all that? About it being focused on you?”
“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’s going 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’t cancel, 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.
She was some 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 him for tea. 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.”