Page 85 of Just Say Christmas
“That’s no way to get ahead,” her dad said.
“I don’t think there’s getting ahead, though,” Isaiah said. “Not in your family.”
Rhys said, “Good on ya, mate. And you’re right.” Zora could see the muscle bunching in his jaw, but his voice was level when he told her dad, “It does matter to Casey, especially this year.”
“Because my mom died,” Casey said. “And it’s still kind of sad, but Christmas is exciting, too.”
“Confusing,” Hayden said. “But still OK to have happy times.”
“Yes,” Tania said. “A mum is always going to want her little girl to be happy, darling. She’ll be looking down on you this Christmas, and she’ll be so glad to see you happy. In your pretty dress, and with a whole family to love you.”
This time, the death-stare went to Isaiah, warding off the discussion of whether people could actually look down on anybody once they were dead. She was too far away to kick him, but maybe Rhys did it, because Isaiah didn’t say anything. He’dwantedto say it, but he’d refrained. A subject for discussion tonight, both the substance of it and congratulations on the restraint.
“So,” Hayden said, “decorating is tomorrow? With cocoa, maybe?”
“Yes,” Casey said. “We have to decorate, because the next day is Christmas, and Nana and Grandad and you are coming to our house for Christmas tea.”
“And we cleaned the house today,” Isaiah said, “so nobody can say that the guest toilet is dirty. I vacuumed.”
“Dad is taking Isaiah and me fishing tomorrow morning, too,” Casey said, “so we can catch fish for our barbecue on Christmas. If we don’t catch any, we’re going to have hamburgers and sausages instead. Hamburgers aren’t very Christmasy, and fish isn’t very Christmasy either, except you eat different things in New Zealand. Decorating makes it more like a party, though, even if you have hamburgers. It makes it so you can wear pretty clothes and give each other presents and be all happy.”
“Including Luke, I hope,” Zora said. “Please, Luke. Please come, if you’ll be here.”
“Your own parents want you to come to them, surely,” her father said.
How was Luke supposed to answer that? He looked like he didn’t know. Neither did Zora, but she knew that it wasn’t her dad’s invitation to give or withhold. It was hers.
Fortunately, Hayden spoke up. “Luke’s volunteered to spend his Christmas with me, so we’ll take that invitation, Zora. Catch another fish for him, will you, Isaiah? Keeps me from going through yet another Christmas tea as the lonely-but-making-the-best-of-it single uncle.”
“But youarethe single uncle,” Isaiah said. “That just means you aren’t married, and you’re not married.”
“It means you’re not in a relationship that you’re talking about,” Hayden said. “I’m in a relationship now, and Iamtalking about it. Luke and I are flying to Paris on Christmas afternoon, in fact. Announcement.Moreannouncement. That’smyChristmas present. Isn’t it a good one?”
“That’s wonderful,” Zora said. “That’s amazing.” There she went, wanting to cry again. “Make it an early Christmas tea, then? Call it noon?” Good thing Rhys and the kids had gone to the supermarket yesterday, and that their menu was simple. That barbecue, plum pudding, and the salads her mum would bring, because her mum always did salads, as if eating your food raw meant it automatically didn’t have as many calories. Or possibly as if eating it raw kept it from being too delicious and hence sinful. Anyway—salads, and a barbecue, and plum pudding, and Christmas crackers with paper hats and silly jokes inside. It was all good.
“Well, yeh,” Hayden said, “if you don’t mind.” His voice got brighter, almost brittle. “Because this year? I find I’d quite like to come. Astonishing what love will do, hey, Zora.”
“And then Paris,” she said, smiling at him in a watery sort of way.
“Yes,” Hayden said. “And then Paris.” He sighed. “I love how that sounds. Like a book title.And Then Paris.It won’t be quite ChristmasinParis, but close enough. Spontaneous. Romantic. Of course, I’ll be the only one on holiday, as Luke will go straight in to work again, but never mind. I think I can manage to entertain myself. In Paris.”
“I’ll make time for you,” Luke said. “After training, I’m all yours.” He smiled at Hayden, which made Hayden, Zora was fairly sure, take his hand under the table. Their dad, on the other hand, tightened up. Only word for it.
“It’d be close enough for me, too,” Zora said. “Boxing Day in Paris.”
“Probably be raining,” Craig said. “Why on earth would you miss out on summer?”
“Because,” Hayden said, still with that brittle quality about him, “we both want it. Because Luke’s tired of being single, too, and we’ve found each other, and it’s pretty special so far, so why not make the most of it? Because I want to go to museums and look at shop-window displays in the Rue Saint Honoré and eat in fabulous restaurants. Because I want to walk beside the Seine after dinner, being in love and holding Luke’s hand. And, possibly, to know that nobody’s going to think that’s an invitation to bash us.”
“They can think it,” Luke said. “They’re welcome to try it, too.”
“I don’t think they’ll try it, mate.” That was Rhys, and, oh, how Zora loved him. She needed to tell him. She needed to . . .
“Why would somebody bash you?” Isaiah asked.
“Because they’d be holding hands,” Craig said.
“Ah,” Hayden said. “Asking for it, you mean.”
