Page 20 of Just Say Christmas
Except that the week had been almost a year ago, with too few times since then, she’d got off the plane last night with her face and her shoulders tightened up again, and they weren’t sharing a room.
Well, bugger.
11
A Perfect Day
NYREE
Nyree sat back at last from a dinner table set for twelve, wiped her butter-smeared fingers on her serviette, drank another mouthful of sparkling water and wished it were Chardonnay, looked out across the dark water to the lights of the city skyline, and sighed. “What a perfect day,” she told Marko. “Did you have a perfect day?”
“Mmm,” he said, his eyes alight with amusement. Nyree could see that, because Victoria had lit candles for dinner. Marko had an arm across the back of her chair and was drinking his however-many glass of Shiraz, but somehow, he didn’t look as drunk as she felt. “Pretty good so far,” he said. “But I’ll let you know.”
She said, “I may not fit into my gown next week. Fair warning. I ate alottoday. Sorry. Hope you want a bride with a bit of extra flesh.” Seeing as lunch had been at Mudbrick Vineyards, where the scent of lavender had wafted through the open windows, the sloping land and perfect turquoise sea had stretched beyond like a postcard, and the food had just kept arriving. Pork and lamb and squid and vegetables, food to warm a Maori girl’s heart, done in the kind of way you’d never produce yourself, because you’d never take the time or even know how, each little white plate presenting a perfect, transitory work of art.
They’d finished with petits fours decorated like tiny wrapped gifts, which had been ridiculous, and had also made her lean her head against Victoria’s shoulder and say, “I’m not drunk, so I’m just very, very sleepy. Could I take a nap for about four hours, please? Tell me that’s next. I forget.”
“Well, as everybody but you and me drank too much, as well as all the eating,” Kate said now, “I figure we were due about, oh, a thousand extra calories. Maybe two. I’m pretty sure it’s been two.”
“Never mind. More of you to love,” Koti said, and every woman at the table groaned.
“No, buddy,” Kate said. “Just no. Repeat after me. ‘You look even more gorgeous than usual to me, baby. There’s nothing I love better than a protruding stomach, seawater-conditioned hair, facial-reddened skin, pregnancy thighs, and a woman who’s going to collapse face-first onto the bed tonight, and not in a good way, now that she’s dipped every incredible mouthful of Tom’s lobster into melted butter, in addition to everything else she ate today.’ That was so good, Tom, by the way. Great work.”
“Oi,” Koti said. “I was on that dive, too. Why isn’t it my lobster?”
“Because you’ve never brought me lobster before?” Kate said. “That could be it.”
“Got me there,” Koti said. “Nah, you’re right. I was a passenger, that’s all.”
“Dive partner,” Tom said. “Very important.”
“You see?” Koti said. “I’m very important.”
“But still tactless,” Kate said.
Will said, “You just say, ‘Glad to see you looking so relaxed. Must’ve been fun.’ Can’t believe I’m having to school you on this, cuz. Losing your touch, aren’t you.”
“Much better,” Nyree agreed, then told Victoria, “You did great. This was a great day. Thank you.”
“Oh, it’s not done yet,” Victoria said.Shewasn’tlooking all that relaxed, but then, she took planning seriously, which was why Nyree was so glad she’d left everything up to her. If it had been up to Nyree, they’d have been—she couldn’t even think. Going to the movies. Having ice cream. She wasn’t good at this sort of thing. Of course, neither was Victoria, normally. The difference was, Victoria researched. Nyree felt extremely fond of her right now. She felt extremely fond of everybody.
She had her mouth open to tell Vic that she’d do the same for her when it was Vic’s turn, but reconsidered. Probably tactless, as Vic wasn’t dating anybody just now. You could say,Never mind, you’re sure to get somebody just as awesome as Marko,except that if somebody had said something that patronizing toher,she’d have slapped them. Also, there was Kane, and the way he and Vic wouldn’t look at each other, even though, back then, Vic had just said, “We didn’t suit. No worries,” and had never mentioned it again. Surely she would have, if it had been more than that.
Anyway, Vic was right. Theydidn’tsuit. They were both serious, and they were both tall, that was all. And kind, but still. Victoria had all kinds of complexities and doubts, and lived too much in her head, and Kane—she didn’t know about Kane, not really. He was purple, like always, that was all she knew, whereas Victoria was a sort of yellow-orange. Victoria told you exactly what she thought, though what she thought was always strangely logical, and Kane never did. See? They didn’t match.
It was awkward all the same to meet a former partner, if you took things seriously, and Victoria always did take things seriously.
“Don’t tell me,” she decided to say instead. “We’re playing complicated board games, or charades, or something equally terrible that you think is fun, because you’re clever. You’re going to make me be strategic, aren’t you? I am not feeling strategic. Also, I wish your hair didn’t look so much better than mine. What happened to the days when ‘folded’ meant we’d actually taken the clothes out of the laundry basket after we took them off the line? Oh, wait, that’s still me.”
“Yeh,” Marko said, “quit looking so good, Vic. It’s throwing Nyree off.” Which was a much better thing to say than Nyree’s idea, she thought fondly.
“I do love you,” she told him, and he said, “Well, good. Bit late to decide you don’t.”
The doorbell rang, and if nobody jumped, it was probably just that theyhadhad heaps of wine with dinner, and they couldn’t make themselves care.
“We’ll ignore that,” Marko said. “I shudder to think who it could be. Photographers. Random members of the public. It’s my stag weekend. I’m not answering.”
Victoria, though, was standing up. “It’s my surprise,” she said. “Our evening entertainment.”
