Page 99 of Just Say (Hell) No
They parked in front of the dairy on Church Street, with its advert touting the “Biggest Ice Creams in Auckland!” and waited while Tom found his own spot. When he’d joined them, Ella said, “Right, the house is pretty, but Devonport’s flash as. Devonport’s, like, thedefinitionof flash.”
“It’s a villa, though,” Marko said, which indeed it was. Across the street, not too big, and painted white. Wide front porch, scalloped trim, and all the requisite historic chocolate-box prettiness, with the green slope of Mount Victoria rising behind it, two beaches a few hundred meters away in two directions, a cricket ground a couple streets over, and a tire swing hung from the huge old tree in front. Family-friendly, but then, so was Orewa. “My house is probably more flash than this,” Marko pointed out, “and nobody can say that I am. We won’t know until we see.”
By the time they’d ascended the stairs to the porch, Ella was hanging back. Marko rang the bell, and after a minute, he rang it again.
“Nobody’s home,” Ella said with obvious relief. “Let’s go. One a day is enough anyway.”
The door opened on the words, and, yes, there was Jocelyn Pae Ata. Wearing trackpants, fuzzy socks, and a Blues T-shirt, with her hair in a Maori knot, looking nothing like the cool, polished figure Nyree had seen so far. She’d apparently been folding the washing, because she had a sheet in her hands.
“Oh,” she said blankly, then smiled. She was an actress, though, so what did that mean? “Come in.” She stood back and waved them in, but then, shewasMaori. Thus, hospitable. “Haere mai. What a lovely surprise.”
“I know you weren’t expecting us,” Marko said, stepping inside and taking off his shoes as the others did the same, “but Ella here had to use the toilet fairly desperately, so I took a chance. She’s pregnant, eh. And bursting.”
Ella made a choking noise, and Nyree knew what she meant.Thatwas the best Marko could do? Josie said, “Oh! Of course,” and led the way down the passage. “It’s just through that door, Ella.”
There was a hammering noise coming from farther inside the house. Hugh and Josie were doing the washingandtheir home repair, it sounded like. At that moment, a young teenage girl came rushing into the rimu-floored passage, skidding in her socks and shouting over her shoulder, “It isnot,Hugh. It’snormal.I’m going to ask Josie!”
Hugh appeared behind her, looking big, bearded, and harassed. “It may be normal,” he said, “but it’s still not on. Hi, Marko. How ya goin’, mate. Didn’t know you were stopping by.”
The girl had whirled on Josie. “Hugh says this top’s too low, Josie. Tell him it’s normal.”
“Sorry, love,” Josie said. “Itislow, a bit. We could pin it. I’ll show you.”
“Fine,”the girl said. “I’ll be the only one wearing a tent, that’s all.”
Josie laughed, but it didn’t sound unkind. “Nah, darling. You won’t be. Wear the red one instead, or wait and I’ll help you pin this one. Either way, you’ll be pretty as anything.”
The girl sighed, said,“Fine”again, and stalked down the long central passage to the back of the house.
“Sorry,” Josie said as a door slammed. “That’s Amelia. Forgetting my manners, aren’t I. Come into the kitchen.”
They trooped down the passage after her and Hugh, and discovered the source of the hammering. A boy, a young one, who was… tap dancing. Not something you saw every day. He was turning circles like a top, arms outstretched, feet flying, before finishing in a crescendo of furious tapping, dropping to one knee, and throwing out his arms. After which he jumped up, breathing hard, and said, “That’s it. What d’you think, Josie?”
“Awesome,” Josie said. “Full of life.”
“I made heaps of mistakes,” the boy said. “In the beginning especially. Did you see?”
“I saw one or two,” Josie said, “but that was all. I missed a bit in there, though.”
“I know,” the boy said. “About the beginning. I was nervous.”
“Practice it again,” Josie said. “You’ll get it. This is Charlie,” she told the others. “Charlie, this is Marko Sendoa, one of Hugh’s teammates, and his friend Nyree, isn’t it? And Tom Koru-Mansworth, and Marko’s cousin Ella. Have I got everybody’s name right?”
“Pleased to meet you,” Charlie said, shaking hands with Marko and Tom. “I’m going to go practice it again, Josie.”
“Do this next one in your room, darling,” Josie said, “as things are getting a wee bit busy out here. And then come show me that tricky bit again.”
Charlie headed off, more or less following his sister. Josie laughed and said, “Wait until you see our bring-a-plate dinners, Marko. We’re posh as, aren’t we? Never mind. Ella, I’m sorry. I didn’t show you the toilet well enough. It’s just through that door. I’m folding washing, too, so I hope you don’t mind seeing everybody’s undies.”
“I don’t have to use the toilet, actually,” Ella said, sinking into a chair at the kitchen table. “I came to talk to you.”
Josie sat down herself, the smile still on her lips. “Oh? How can I help? Cup of tea?”
Nyree sat down beside Ella. Hugh, possibly alerted by something in his wife’s face, had come to sit next to Josie, and Nyree saw him take her hand under the table.
She was still about three stops back. Josie Pae Ata and Hugh Latimer were on the waiting-for-adoption list? But surely they’d be any pregnant teenager’s first choice. An All Black and a film star? It stood to reason. Besides—how would they have time for twins?
Tom and Marko were still standing, but Nyree couldn’t worry about them. Not now.
