Page 107 of Just Come Over
“I did. Out late, and yet I came anyway. Mum woke me with the phone at eight, thank you very much, and there was no getting back to sleep after twenty minutes of that.”
He went into the bathroom with her, and she gave him the cleanser and said, “You can do the tub.”
“Why do I get the hard part?”
“Because you’re taller. D’you know how tricky it is to reach the far side when you’re my height? And scrub well, please. Casey and Isaiah both came home from rugby with Rhys yesterday covered with dirt, and I’m not taking a bath again until that’s sanitized.”
He sighed. “‘Talk to your sister,’ Mum said. ‘It’s my duty as a brother,’ I thought. ‘I’m dying to hear more, because it sounds fraught, and maybe she’ll give me breakfast.’ Pancakes and caramelized bananas, I thought. I saw a thing where you did the bananas with toasted walnuts. Looked fab.”
“Dream on.” She squirted cleanser around the toilet bowl, then got to work on the floor behind it. “I don’t make breakfast at ten in the morning. Also, I could have more appetite for cooking pancakes if boys aimed better. What do I have to do, put a floating target in here? But I can’t wait to hear how Mum spun this. Let’s have it.”
“You should have him clean the floor instead of doing it yourself,” Hayden said. “The message is more likely to get through if he’s wiping up the dried pee.”
She stopped wiping for a moment and sat back on her heels. “Huh. That’s a surprisingly good idea. And itwasfraught. I said things I’ve never said before. You could call it a scene. Dad didn’t look too happy, either, thinking back. I don’t know what happened, but I’m guessing he tried to condescend to Rhys, and that it didn’t go well. Parental relationship blown to bits, or reestablished on more even footing, perhaps. Time will tell. What did Mum say? She hasn’t rung me since.”
She should go over there and have a chat, probably. Isaiah needed a relationship with his grandparents, and it was going to have to come from her. She needed to haul up some compassion and be the bigger person.
She was so very tired of being the bigger person.
Also, she had Casey today, and she didn’t want to drag her into it. Her mum wouldn’t actually make Casey feel unwelcome, though, would she? Or say something in front of her?
The truth was—she wasn’t sure. Besides, how many emotional explosions could you take in one weekend, on how little sleep, before you broke? She was raw inside, the weepiness just under the surface, and she was having trouble shoving it back down.
Everything wasgood,though. Everything was brilliant. Rhys had said he loved her, and her worries about money had lifted like a cloud you’d had hanging over you for so long that you hadn’t even known it was there. Suddenly, she could not only buy a van, she could buy a heat pump, too, and even replace the floor in her kitchen. She was still going to do the work herself, though. No need to go wild.
Except that Rhys wanted her to move in. That was a... complicated thought.
She should be ecstatic. Instead, all she wanted was a couple hours alone. She wanted to climb into bed and fall asleep watching a movie, and she couldn’t. Shedidhave both kids, Isaiah had been a bit intense himself yesterday, and she needed to pay attention. And then there was everything that had backed up on her this week. Laundry and cleaning and paperwork and grocery shopping and... everything. Tomorrow, she’d be up at five again, creating her business arrangements and making her deliveries, running all day. She didn’t have time to fall apart, and she didn’t want to cry in front of the kids. It scared Isaiah too much when she did, and it would scare Casey, too.
Tuesday. She’d get through all this, and on Tuesday, she’d take her break. Meanwhile, it was life, that was all. It was getting on with things. And if Rhys hadn’t told her why he had to leave? She could tell him how that made her feel. Just not tonight.
“I believe,” Hayden said, putting some muscle into his scrubbing, “that Mum’s theme ran along the lines of you prostituting yourself. Which made me laugh, for the record. Does she evenknowyou? Carried away by animal lust, now?That,I can imagine. There was something about a necklace, and you wearing it backward, which is apparently the new tramp stamp. I didn’t quite get it, or maybe I zoned out. You could say she went on about it.”
“Rhys brought me a pearl necklace home from Japan. Bought me a new dress and shoes, too, and took me to Jervois, which I’m sure Mum told you. I’m not sure if she thought I was just selling my body, or if I’d thrown my soul in there as well. Is she more upset that it’s another rugby player with too much history, or that he’s Dylan’s brother? Since we’re being crass anyway, I’m sure he’s out-earned Dad for years. Also, if she thinks coaching is easy, she can think again.”
“I’m not the one you have to convince,” Hayden said. “Going back to this necklace... what are we talking about here?”
She sighed, finished brushing out the toilet, flushed, and didn’t look at Hayden. “Oh, we’re talking major league.”
“Huh. Bit early for that, surely. And he bought your clothes? You didn’t tell him about the money you found, then.”
“Yeh. I did. The dress wasn’t about the money.” She hadn’t told Hayden that Dylan was Casey’s father, and she wasn’t going to. Once enough people knew a secret, it didn’t tend to stay secret.
“Ah,” Hayden said. “Interesting. The man’s got one hell of a power thing going on, doesn’t he? Possessive, too, I’m guessing. It almost turnsmeon, and I bat for the other team. On the other hand, where does it put you? Also, what did he say about the account?”
“Not too much. That Dylan was a dickhead, basically.”
“Of course,” Hayden said, “Rhys hasn’t covered himself with glory, either, in the personal-life department. Another thing Mum brought up. And on that note—why is Casey here? The game was last night. Surely he should have her today. Why are you letting him dump her on you? You know I never think Mum’s right, but in this case? She could be right.”
She wanted to leave the room. She didn’t. “Rhys had to go to the South Island for the day. He’ll be back tonight.”
Hayden looked her over. “For what?”
“He didn’t say. Just said he had to go, and could I take Casey. And what’s that look meant to be?”
“How do you spell ‘unavailable’?”
“He’s not. He’s nothing like unavailable. You don’t know.” She was getting that thing again, like in the bank. In another minute, she’d have to put her head between her knees. “And I don’t have any...” She had to blink. She had tobreathe.“Any room left for any more of this. I can’t. I love you, but I can’t talk about it anymore.”
