Chapter 18
AND YOU STILL DON’T GET THE GIRL
“Hi,” Gordon said. “I’m Gordon. The handsome, charming one.”
Skylar didn’t say, “Ah, the middle rat—the most competitive one, and the one who pretends he’s not,” but she thought it. “I recognized you,” she said instead. “You did well last night. That was an impressive try.”
He shrugged. “We lost.”
“Well, yes,” she said, “but does that mean that nothing you did counts?”
“No,” Zane said. “It just feels that way. And hi.” He smiled and looked genuinely pleased to see her, which was confusing.
Then he put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek while she was peeling kumara, looked into her eyes, smiled again, and said “Hi” once more, as if he’d forgotten he’d already said it. She may have lost her breath a bit.
Jack said, “Excuse me? Introduction? I’m Jack. The one who came off the bench as an impact player to help get the job done. Except we didn’t. Bugger.”
The youngest rat, with a chip on his shoulder.
“I recognized you too,” Skylar said. “You went up for that high ball and won it. The announcers were excited about it, and that’s about what I know.
” She gestured with her peeler. “I don’t know whether I’m supposed to say cheering things or ignore the topic entirely. I’m new to this. What eases the pain?”
“Drink,” Gordo said.
“Sex,” Jack said.
“Bro,” Zane said, and he was frowning.
“She asked,” Jack said. “Just being honest.”
“The only thing that really works,” Zane told Skylar, ignoring him, “is winning the next one. Losing hurts, but if it pushes you to work harder, it’s useful.
It also helps to know that you emptied the tank.
The other team can still be better on the night.
Stupid penalties, now …” He glanced meaningfully at Gordon.
“Rub it in, why don’t you?” Gordo said. “Not like I’m not going to hear about it tomorrow. Oh, wait. Season’s over. I’ll just have to marinate in my misery for the next six months or so. That contrite enough for you?”
“And you’re wondering why on earth I’m here,” Skylar said, because what must he think?
There’d probably been a movie made about a sportsman coming home from his away match and finding some woman he’d barely met cooking in his kitchen.
In other words, a stalker. “Oh—the kids are in the pool—with Granddad watching them, to Scarlett’s disgust—and probably on the trampoline, and yours have been looking forward desperately to you coming home.
Georgia wants to give you heaps of cuddles to make you feel better.
All of you,” she informed them, and all three brothers smiled, so that was good, wasn’t it?
“And I have to tell you, it’s a good thing there’s a net around that trampoline.
There was some discussion of how, if there weren’t, you could bounce high enough to launch yourself into the pool.
That was Finlay, with excited agreement from Duncan.
Finlay’s my eldest,” she told the others.
“My kids are here, too. That’s why it’s so noisy. ”
“Surprised they haven’t jumped off the roof into the pool yet,” Gordon said. “Slow to recognize life’s possibilities, I call that. We’d have been doing that in a heartbeat, eh, Zazza.”
“Where’s Nan, though?” Jack asked. “She’s crook? How crook?”
“Flu,” Jade said. “Even though she got the jab. She went to the doctor and got some tablets yesterday—that Tamiflu stuff—and her boyfriend’s been in her room with her all night and half the day, tenderly ministering to her needs.
Says she’s asleep now, though. Did you know Nan had a boyfriend?
Me neither. I can’t make a dent in the dating market—well, enough of a dent, anyway—and here’s our Nan, one and done. ”
“Her—well, man friend,” Skylar said, “is my grandfather, which explains my presence. He’s had the flu jab too, so hopefully it works in his case. I hope you all have as well, although it’s apparently not a perfect match this season.”
“Course we have,” Gordon said. “En Zed Rugby sees to that. I’ve played a match with flu. Schoolboy days. Heaving my guts up on the field. Not doing that again if I can help it.”
“Well, good,” Skylar said, and kept peeling kumara. “Anyway, since Zane was gone and Jade wasn’t available, Granddad called for reinforcements. Which is why I’m here.”
“There’s such a thing as meal delivery,” Zane said, frowning again. “Not sure why it had to be you.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She knew she was turning red, too. Surely there was a clever retort to that. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find it.
“Bro,” Jade said. “No.”
“What?” He looked genuinely confused. Also tired, and he was limping, wasn’t he?
He’d put in a dominating and brutal performance last night, had seemed to be trying to carry the team to victory on his back.
And he hadn’t been able to do it. That had to be a major blow, however stoically he carried it.
“You just made her feel like she shouldn’t have come,” Gordon said. “Can’t believe I’m having to school you on this. How old are you again?”
“Oh. Well, of course I’m glad you’re here,” Zane said. “And something smells amazing. Seems like too much to ask, though, for you to have to ride to the rescue.”
“Hmm. Who fixed my sink again?”
“Took fifteen minutes. And I didn’t fix it. I patched it. Didn’t your granddad ring that plumber, then? I could—”
“I rest my case,” she said. “It’s fixed now, no worries.
No, I just brought a few groceries over and made a simple dinner, and we all watched your match.
The kids and I watched on your big screen, and your Nan and my granddad watched in her room, as she couldn’t possibly miss it, ill as she’s been.
And then Granddad called me again this morning and said that Maureen was dreadfully fussed that she couldn’t cook the special tea she’d meant to for all of you, so …
” She gestured with her knife, because she was chopping the kumara now.
“Another trip to the shops and a bit more cooking, that’s all.
” She didn’t add that the call had come at six-thirty this morning, that the kids hadn’t been one bit chuffed to have to get up early on a Sunday to go to the supermarket, or that she’d put the lamb in the oven at nine. “Half an hour or so for this.”
“What is it?” Gordon asked. “And why can’t I ever find a woman who cooks like this?”
“Like what?” Skylar said. “All you’ve seen me do so far is peel kumara.
It’s lamb puttanesca with mashed kumara.
It had to be beef or lamb. Those were my instructions.
It’s easy as, and it has thirty-five grams of protein per serving.
Iron and zinc, too, and I reckoned you boys needed that.
Zane said calories, but nutritious calories, so here we are. ”
“Well, I for one appreciate it,” Gordon said. “But I don’t know why Jade isn’t cooking it, if somebody had to.”
“Oi,” Jade said. “I’m not your domestic servant.
And as it happens, my date lasted into the morning.
” Her younger two brothers made some “Ooh” noises, and she said, “Yeh, and I won’t ask where the two of you ended up last night, or why you’re looking so green around the gills.
Zane isn’t, of course, because he’s perfect. ”
“Gordon said, “I resent that. What did you cook for the kids last night, Skylar? Just asking to see if I should be making it a point to pop round more often.”
“Chilli crisp beef noodles with veg,” she said. “Easy as. And sorry, but you’re going to owe me some money,” she told Zane. “I’m putting that out there so I’m not embarrassed to ask.”
“You’re embarrassed to ask,” Jack said, “so you ask?”
“Absolutely. This way I’m not wondering when to ask. Mince is thirty dollars a kilogram now and the lamb chops nearly as dear, so, yes, I’m asking.”
“Thirty dollars a kilogram for mince?” Jack said. “How can that be?”
“If you ever did a shop,” Gordon said, “you’d know. Because it’s all going to China and the States, that’s why, for top dollar. Here we are, best meat in the world, and we barely get a sniff of it.”
“Text me the amount and your payment info,” Zane said, “and I’ll send it over.”
“See how easy?” she said, and smiled. “And so far, good news, Finlay and Scarlett haven’t killed each other. At least I don’t think so. If there’s somebody lying on the trampoline with a knife in their back, don’t tell me until I finish this dinner. It’ll put me straight off my game.”
She was wearing an apron. What was it about a curvy woman in bare feet and an apron, cooking in your kitchen? Probably said something bad about him that he found that so sexy. He was a throwback, like he’d told her. Fortunately, she seemed to be a bit of a throwback too.
He wanted to kiss her more, and also better.
Unfortunately, she was cooking that dinner—and probably didn’t want to kiss him—so he changed into togs instead, tossing a couple of extra pairs to his brothers.
They had comical things to say about the size of them, of course, but he just said, “Because you’re boys trying to fit into man’s clothes, that’s why,” and went outside, where the reason for the togs was immediately apparent.
Jade was bouncing on the trampoline with Scarlett, but at sight of him, Scarlett and the two kids in the pool mobbed him with maximum wetness quotient, then did the same to their uncles.
Before long, Geoffrey was back in the house, and Zane and his brothers were in the pool with a kid on each of their shoulders, having a chicken fight.
Olive, he was amused to see, fought with the best of them, crowing with delight when she managed to knock Duncan off Gordon’s shoulders.
“No fair,” Duncan said, swimming over again. “Uncle Gordon isn’t as strong as you, Dad.”
“I resent that,” Gordon said. He had Georgia up there now, but she and George, on Jack’s shoulders, were mostly giggling and tapping each other, while Olive said, “Come on, you two, knock somebody off. I can’t fight you, because it’s not fair picking on you, and I want to fight some more!”
“I’ll fight you,” Scarlett said. “Give me a turn, George.”
“OK,” he said equably. “I don’t really like fighting anyway. Come on, Georgia. Let’s jump on the trampoline.”
Finlay and Scarlett were up then, and as you’d expect, things got lively.
Olive was knocked off fairly quickly—by Scarlett, as Finlay had said, “I can’t fight my little sister.
” Then it was the two of them battling it out, and Zane and Gordon getting the kids closer, then pulling apart, turning in the water to avoid shoving hands.
Heaps of shrieking from all sides, but if it bothered Gordon’s tender head, he didn’t say so.
He dug in instead, coming at Zane with Finlay on his shoulders as if today was the day that the younger kids won.
Which wasn’t happening. Zane forgot that Finlay was Skylar’s. He charged, and then he charged again. He wasn’t losing. Not today. Scarlett was laughing, breathless, saying, “Come on, Dad! Get him!”
It could have gone on for an hour, but Skylar came out of the house. Zane didn’t hear her at first, for obvious reasons, but then there was a piercing whistle, and he whirled. She shouted, “Dinner in ten minutes,” and he said, “OK.” Which was when Gordon cannoned into him and they all went flying.
Not a bad way to recover. Not bad at all.
But, of course, his whanau soon made things much more complicated. Well, his whanau and Skylar’s grandfather.
Could he please, just once, meet this woman like a normal human? Possibly drink another glass of wine with her, watch her curl up on the couch beside him—she’d curl up every time; she was the cuddly sort—and find out whether she wanted to kiss him half as much as he wanted to kiss her?
He was a sportsman! You were meant to be able to get the girl. That had definitely been in the recruiting material.