Page 27 of Just Come Over
When she’d opened the door, he’d thought at first, for one heart-stopping moment, that she wasn’t wearing anything but the apron. Then she’d turned around, he’d seen the ribbed white singlet, the delicate blue ribbons of her bra straps beneath it, the tiny flowered shorts with their ruffled edges, the soft skin of her inner thighs and the slimness of her ankles, and he’d had another difficult moment. She wasn’t any athletic hardbody, and there was no doubt she was little. But so nicely made.
This was about Casey, though. He’d tried to think who to ask, and Zora was the first person he’d thought of, possibly because she was the best mum he’d ever seen.
He still remembered how she’d looked when he’d come to see his nephew for the first time. She’d held the baby against her shoulder, her hand cradling his head with so much tenderness, it had made his heart twist. He’d seen the softness in her eyes and had wanted, with a pain that stabbed him right in the chest, for that to be his. Except that, of course, it wasn’t. She was somebody’s mum now. Somebody’s wife.
His brother’s.
Right. Focusing.He watched her shove pink and lavender blooms into the mound of white flowers she’d arranged in the vases—straight into the midst of the other flowers’ multiple tiny blossoms, which wouldn’t have been how he’d have thought you’d do it, but looked good anyway—and said, “Casey’s moved here with me from Chicago, as her mum’s died, which means our lives have undergone a... shift, you could call it. We’re both having a new start. We went to enroll her in school today, and came up against a couple obstacles. And I told you,” he said to Casey, “that we’re working into the rabbits. We need to make sure they have a home first. We need to make surewehave a home first. The rabbits are coming.”
Casey sighed in a martyred sort of way, like the drama queen she was. “I get to wear a uniform at school,” she told Zora. “It’s green, and you have to wear the same thing every day, because that’s the rules, but you can wear a skirt or you can wear shorts. And you have to wear a special hat every day outside, because the sun is very strong, and it’s the summer, but you still have to go to school. I never heard of going to school in the summer. What are you making?”
“My weekly floral arrangements for a chain of day spas,” Zora said. “My Wednesday job. It has to be very special, because a spa is where you go to feel more beautiful. I’ve got the calla lilies and eucalyptus done for the front desks, in those vases at the back, which are more elegant, but I thought, this time, I’d do something more special for the lounges. This is hydrangeas, lisianthus, and orchids, with snowberries and blackberries, and some stock so it smells lovely.”
“It’s very pretty,” Casey said.
“It is, isn’t it? It’s not sleek and modern, not like calla lilies, but I thought we’d try it anyway. One of the buildings used to be a bank, and it always looks like a palace to me. The table and the benchtops are made of limestone, and there are these gorgeous marble columns that are sort of cream and brown. They make me think about a throne room, or someplace else very beautiful. The couches are white, and the chandeliers are gold. I thought I’d go with something purely romantic, so you’re lounging in your dressing gown, waiting for your facial or relaxing after your massage, sipping water with slices of cucumber in it and feeling like a princess.”
“Like Cinderella,” Casey said.
“Or something even better. A Russian princess, in the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, wearing gold and rubies in her hair. And here.” She picked up a cream-colored flower, cut it off short, threaded it through with a pin, and fastened it to Casey’s black T-shirt. “Now you can pretend, too. This is lisianthus. So pretty.”
“A bit like I always thought you looked,” Rhys said. “A Russian princess.”
Zora glanced at him, clearly startled, then laughed. “You did not.”
Well, this was awkward. “Your eyes, I reckon,” he muttered.
“So you’re enrolled in school, and you have a uniform,” Zora said to Casey, ignoring him. She was arranging stems of greenery like she knew exactly where they should go. Not stuck around the edge like he’d have assumed, but more haphazardly. “Sounds like you’re well on your way. When did you get here?”
“This morning,” Rhys said.
She set down her clippers. “Thismorning?As in, you flew here this morning? From the States?”
“From Chicago. That’s where Casey was living with her mum.”
“Did you even stop at your house?” Zora asked.
“Yeh, of course. We had to, didn’t we, to drop off the bags.”
Zora was all but rolling her eyes. Why? What should he have done instead? Casey needed to go to school, and he needed to go to work. Which reminded him. “But we have a wee problem,” he said.
“You don’t say. I can’t imagine.”
“School doesn’t start until nine,” he said, “and it ends at three. There are no spots open right now in after-school care, let alone what you do in the morning. Casey’s on the waiting list, but meanwhile...”
“Because it’s not the right time,” Casey said. “All the kids have already started in Year Two, and I’m only halfway in first grade.”
“I thought you might have some suggestions,” Rhys said. “Know of someplace decent I could take her. I can’t just bung her in anywhere. That’s no good. Besides, I’ve realized that I’m going to need to get somebody to stay at the house, for when I’m off with the team, so I probably shouldn’t make any commitments, day-care-wise.”
Casey looked up at him, and he realized that he should have said something about that. What, though?By the way, I realize I’m the only parent you now have, and you don’t know me, but I’ll only be around half the time?
“You know what?” Zora told Casey. “Let’s go pick you some mandarins. I have a tree. They’re better than cookies, I think. There’s a lovely hammock in the garden where you can lie and eat them while you listen to the birds. You could even take a nap, if you like.”
“I don’t take naps,” Casey said. “I’m not a baby.”
“Of course not,” Zora said. “You’re six. You can have a wee rest, though.”
“Or I could help you with your princess flowers,” Casey said.
