Chapter Five
Kingi
By the time Chessie and Thea emerge from the changing rooms, I’ve stripped and already swum across the pool and back.
Waiheke Island isn’t huge, and her family home isn’t far from Midnight, so it’s not a great surprise to meet Chessie here, but even so, I thank whoever’s watching over us for my spur-of-the-moment decision to come here.
I observe them walking toward me, glad I’m in the cold water as my gaze falls on Chessie’s curves. She’s not wearing a bikini today, but the navy costume is cut high at the legs, and the daisy-covered bodice clings to her generous bust. Her arms and legs are covered with freckles.
She stands at the edge of the water and scoops up her hair with both hands before securing it into a bun with an elastic on the top of her head. Wow, that’s sexy. I drag my gaze away and smile at Thea as she approaches the edge of the pool, lets the water lap at her toes, then squeals.
“It’s always best to get in quickly,” I advise. “Can you swim?” It’s usually a redundant question—most kids in New Zealand can swim, and many schools have their own pools, especially north of Auckland—but it’s always best to check.
“Yes,” she says, somewhat indignantly. “But I can’t dive yet,” she admits.
“Diving’s easy. I can show you how, if you like.”
“Kingi teaches other boys and girls lots of sports,” Chessie says, also shivering as she puts her toes in the water. “Ooh, that’s cold.”
“Come on, the pair of you. Just jump in.” I splash them, and they both squeal.
Eventually, I convince them that the best way is to take the plunge, and within a few minutes they’re both in and enjoying themselves. Thea is an okay swimmer—I’m guessing her family doesn’t have the money to pay for private lessons, so her technique could do with improvement.
“Your legs have to move like a frog’s,” I tell her as she attempts the breaststroke. “Like this.” I show her. She watches, then pushes off the side, following my lead. “Excellent! You’re a natural.”
“Can you show me how to dive?”
“Sure, if you want.” First, I make sure she knows how to float and tread water.
Then we swim over to a collection of large rocks on the bank.
These are good for diving from, as there aren’t any other rocks beneath the surface.
“Start with the lowest one,” I tell her, and she clambers out and makes her way carefully to the rock that’s just above the water.
“Okay, sit on the edge. That’s right. Now tuck your chin down and extend your arms. Look, you’re just going to tip forward, all right?
You don’t need to jump. Just tip forward. I’m going to be right here, okay?”
She nods. I glance at Chessie, who’s swimming on her back, watching us. Then I look back at Thea. “Go on, then!”
She looks at the water, aims her hands, then tips forward. It’s a perfect sitting dive, and I don’t have to help as she kicks to the surface, her eyes shining. “I did it!” she declares triumphantly.
“That was terrific!” I cheer, and Chessie joins in.
“Again,” Thea says, climbing out. She does it a couple more times, and then I suggest she squats and tips forward, and then finally she does it with straight legs. Once she gets used to the sensation of falling and the shock of hitting the cold water, there’s no stopping her.
After that, the three of us have great fun, swimming around and doing tricks in the pool. Thea jumps off my knees, and I bomb them both from the side and make them squeal. Chessie shows her how to do a handstand, and then I do one, and splash Thea when she declares Chessie’s was better.
We spend a good hour in the pool. Thea doesn’t want to get out, but eventually Chessie declares she’s getting cold, and the offer of a snack is enough to prompt Thea to scramble to the side.
“What are you going to do about a towel?” Chessie asks me. Her lips curve up as I blink. “You didn’t think about that, did you?”
“Er, no. I’ll have to drip dry.”
“Are you going to walk back to Midnight in your boxers?”
I scratch my cheek, and she rolls her eyes. “You can borrow my towel when I’m done. Just give me five minutes.”
“Okay, thanks.”
She helps Thea get out, then hesitates and looks back at me.
The last time we spoke, she walked out on me, but I’m relieved to see no resentment in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she says. “We both needed that today.” Without enlarging on that mysterious statement, she gets out, takes Thea’s hand, and picks up her bag, and the two of them head over to the changing rooms.
I swim around, pondering what she could have meant, until eventually they emerge, dried and dressed. I get out of the pool and go over to them, and Chessie holds out her slightly damp towel.
“Thanks.” I put it around my shoulders and rub my hair as I watch her lift her bag onto the bench and rifle around in it. She brings out a bottle of water and a box of cereal bars, and Thea claps her hands and starts opening the box.
Chessie glances to the right at the ground, sees my feet, and obviously realizes I’m still there.
I haven’t dried my legs yet, so I imagine she’s looking at the water droplets clinging to my hairs as her gaze slowly slides up, gets to my wet boxer-briefs, which are clinging to me, and hitches before her eyes snap up to mine.
Her cheeks stain a light red. “Go and get dressed,” she snaps.
My lips twitch. “Yes, Mum.”
She rolls her eyes and returns to making sure Thea’s feet are dry before she puts on her socks and shoes.
Grinning, I go into the changing rooms, dry myself and put my clothes back on, and do my best to run my fingers through my hair. It’s tangled, though, and in the end I give up. I should really get it cut, and my beard too. There’s long and then there’s long.
I go back out and cross the short distance to them, and throw myself on the ground in front of the bench. Chessie holds out a cereal bar, and I take it and demolish it in two bites.
“Wow,” she says, as Thea’s eyes widen. “Did that even touch the sides?”
“I missed breakfast.”
“Some supermodel keeping you up all night?” Chessie asks tartly.
“No… if you must know, I was down the gym this morning.”
“At Midnight? Don’t you have a house of your own?”
“I do. A very nice one. But I have an early meeting at Midnight tomorrow with some executives staying at the resort, and I was in yesterday, and sometimes I can’t be bothered to make the journey home. I need to learn to fly a helicopter, like Orson.”
Thea’s eyes nearly fall out of her head, and I suddenly remember who I’m talking to. I look at Chessie, wondering if she’s angry at me again for reminding her of the difference in our lifestyles, but she’s smiling, so I’m guessing not.
“Can I explore?” Thea asks. “I saw a rabbit on the grass.”
“Of course. Just don’t go too far.”
Thea hands her the wrapper from her cereal bar, jumps off the bench, and heads into the trees. Chessie turns so she’s astride the bench and can keep an eye on her, then looks down at me and smiles. “You were very good with her,” she says. “I can see why they want you at the Foundation.”
“Or not,” I say, somewhat gloomily. But I don’t want to talk about that again. “What did you mean when you said you both needed that today?”
She sighs and stuffs the empty wrappers back into her bag. “We were at my parents’ place. Mark and Nina had come to visit because my dad came home yesterday.”
“Oh, well that’s good, right? They wouldn’t have sent him home if they didn’t think he was well enough to cope?”
“Yeah… although you always wonder if they need the beds. His wound is still infected. I’m not reassured by them saying it’s minor and superficial. It looks horrible.”
Of course, I forgot that they wouldn’t be paying privately.
New Zealand has a free healthcare system, and Joe’s heart bypass wouldn’t have cost him a single cent, which I’m sure is a huge relief to them.
But the staff is overworked, the wait times are horrendous, and the follow-up care isn’t as good as it should be, from what I hear.
No fault of the doctors and nurses. Just not enough money in the system.
I sense there’s something she’s not telling me. I glance at Thea to make sure she’s not within earshot, but she’s sitting on the grass, watching the rabbits playing beneath the trees.
“So… Mark was there… was the atmosphere not good?”
Chessie unscrews the top from a bottle of water, has a few mouthfuls, wipes the top, then offers it to me. I take it and do the same and hand it back to her, and she screws the lid back on. I can see she’s thinking about whether to share something with me.
Eventually, she sighs and says, “It turns out he owes another five thousand.”
My eyebrows rise. I’ve been thinking a lot about what she told me, and her statement that it’s almost what Mark makes in a year. It’s a significant amount of money for the family to find.
“He admitted he only borrowed a thousand,” she says softly. “The rest was interest and late payment fees.”
Anger flows through me. I can’t stand the type of people who make money from others’ misery and weakness. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” She lifts her hands to her hair, extracts the elastic band, and lets the red locks tumble around her shoulders.
“Dad’s really angry. I’ve never heard him criticize Mark, even after everything he’s done, but he laid into him this morning.
Nina was upset. And I didn’t want Thea to see them arguing, so I took her out.
” She picks up a stone and examines it, then tosses it away with some force so that it bounces off a tree.
“It’s all so hopeless,” she says bitterly.
I don’t want to insult her again, but equally I can’t let her get upset when it’s such an easy problem to fix. “Please,” I murmur, “let me help.”
She lets out a heartfelt sigh and rests her face in her hands for a long, long time. I wonder whether she’s crying, but when she eventually lifts her head, her face is dry. Her eyes are bleak, though. “Thank you,” she says, glancing at me, “but I can’t.”