Page 53 of Just Say Christmas
“It’s OK,” Luke said. “Good to hear, maybe, for kids. I’m not an alcoholic, because I can still have a beer without wanting more. I just don’t want one. I decided to see what it felt like to be sober all the time, and I found out I liked it better.”
“Rugby players always drink beer after games,” Isaiah said. “My dad used to drink heaps after games, I think.”
“That wasn’t really my problem,” Luke said. “I was careful after games.” Careful all the time in his public life, because he’d had to be. “Drinking too much can happen in all sorts of ways, though,” he went on, for some reason. “Like if your partner’s a chef, like mine was. Chefs work long hours and tend to drink wine—sometimes a lot of wine—to wind down at the end of the night, and you might be keeping them company. Wine’s not really the best way to wind down. I only really found that out once I stopped trying to do it that way.” He didn’t mention what could happen when your partner broke up with you after three years, and told you that you were ugly, boring, and a coward on his way out the door. Alcohol couldn’t drown that out. He ought to know. He’d tried. That was why he’d stopped drinking, because it hadn’t worked. The fortunate side effect had been that he’d found his courage again, or finally.
Hayden looked up again and said, “Oh.” Looking disappointed. Luke wanted to say,That’s why I’m not drinking. I had an issue, and I’m dealing with it.But he’d already said that.
“A chef is a cook,” Casey told Isaiah. “But in a fancy restaurant, with a tall hat, like inRatatouille.”
“I know,” Isaiah said.
“Does she have a hat?” Casey asked. “The chef?”
“He’s a man,” Luke said. Now he was coming out tokids.“Yeh. The restaurant had a Michelin star. That’s a big deal. Means it’s in a guidebook, and he had a hat and the checked trousers and white smock and all. Got to look the part, eh.”
“Oh,” Isaiah said. “Your partner was a man? Does that mean you’re gay? You don’t look like a gay person. Not like Uncle Hayden.”
Now, both RhysandZora said,“Isaiah,”in stereo, and Hayden laid his forehead against the table and groaned.
“Gay means . . .” Isaiah was telling Casey even as Rhys and Zora said it, and Casey said, “Iknow.We had it in school. It means boys go out with boys, and girls go out with girls, and it’s OK. Except you’re supposed to say LGTBQ, and some other letters.”
“LGBTQ plus,” Isaiah said. “You got the letters backwards.”
“There isn’t one way people are gay,” Tom said, absolutely unexpectedly. He hadn’t spoken up much. Definitely shy around senior players. “Not one way they look. You may think there is, because you see some people who you’re sure are gay—LGBTQ—and you assume they’re . . .”
“Representative of all gay individuals,” Hayden said. “Like me.Obviouslygay. What an entertaining day this is proving to be.”
“But Tom’s right,” Zora said. “You don’t know about all the people whoaren’tobvious, since you don’t go around asking everybody their gender preferences. Because you’re more polite than that.”
“Well, if you’re Isaiah and Casey, you do, apparently,” Hayden said. “Anybody else want to come out? Anybody who isn’t obvious, that is? No? Good. I’m oddly exhausted. And I have a meeting at eight o’clock tomorrow, so . . .” He stood up. “Cheers for the pizza, Marko, and for the company, everybody. Hope you get it done tomorrow, Nyree.”
“What?” She sat up from where she’d been lying against Marko’s shoulder, and blinked. She’d fallen asleep at the table.Thatwas why she’d shut up. “Sorry, what?”
Rhys eyed her thoughtfully. “You know, you don’t need to kill yourself for this. We don’t want to wear you out, right, Casey?”
“Oh,” Casey said. “If you’re getting too tired, you should stop painting. It isn’t good to work until you’re too tired. I’m sure it’s going to be very pretty, because Auntie Zora says it has lots of animals and magical things already. So it’s probably good enough.”
Nyree smiled. Still looking sleepy, her hair mussed. Marko, Luke noticed, was looking at her like he’d go to the moon and back for her. Nyree was going to be all right. “No worries,” she said. “I’ll go home and have a good sleep, and then I’ll come back in the morning and finish up. I’ve had so much help today, I can do it. Kane said he’d come back.” She looked the question at Luke, and he nodded. “Good,” she said. “Two’s all I can keep busy, Tom, so I’ll just bother my brothers. Thanks for all your help. After that, I’ll sleep all day Friday, because . . .”
“Because you have two speeds,” Marko said. “Two hundred kilometers an hour and full stop, and it’ll be time to stop.”
“AndI’ll still have Saturday morning to pack for the wedding,” Nyree said. “Heaps of time. You don’t want a woman who fusses about how she looks, Marko,orwho gives up without a fight, and you know it. You’d be so bored.”
“Well,” he said, “that’s probably true. On all counts,” and grinned, looking like a particularly ferocious pirate who’d just been given the unexpected chance at a treasure chest.
“Of course it’s true,” Nyree said. “Casey’s room has turned into a bit of a group project, that’s all, and group projects can be brilliant.”
“Yes, they can,” Hayden said, “and I painted the blades of grass. Remember that when you see it, Casey. And . . . I’m off.”
So that was the evening over, and it hadn’t been so bad. In fact, it was good. Luke hadn’t had to drink for courage or for any other reason, he’d been present, and he’d been honest.
Yeh. It was good.
28
Ready or Not
LUKE
