Page 47 of Catch a Kiwi
Matiu grinned again. He was a very good-looking bloke, and full of the charm I didn’t have. I didn’t think,Must come from a different side of the family than me—and Hemi Te Mana,too, by all accounts,because this was really nothing to do with me. An accident of DNA, that was all. He said, “I’ll be fighting already with Hemi over who pays, no worries. I’ll win, though, because the deed will be done. I’ll get Daniel on a plane again, too, as I’m not working tomorrow. Daniel’s not your responsibility, and I’d keep it that way.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Sunday tomorrow. And don’t let my mum ask you for anything. She has a card. With a limit.”
“Yeh, well, I’m an emergency doc. Otago General. Your DNA swabs, should you choose to submit to them, will be collected professionally. I swab a cheek brilliantly, if I do say so.”
“We were just there.” That was Summer, her first time speaking up. “At your hospital. My cousin and me, after an accident a week or so ago. That’s why we’re here with Roman, recuperating. You weren’t the doctor, but he was good, and we had an excellent nurse. Daisy, uh …”
“Tamatoa,” Matiu said. “She’s a good friend. Excellent nurse, too.”
“Bit bossy,” I said.
Matiu laughed. For somebody thrust into an awkward spot, he was a cool customer, but I guessed that went with the job. “Sounds like our Daise.” He waited a moment, then said, “Are we waiting them out, or … I warn you, Daniel could be in there taking up residence.”
“Yeh, nah,” I said. “That’s not happening. But let’s go in anyway. Sooner we start, sooner it’s over.”
“You could be Hemi’s brother after all,” Matiu said. “That may be a compliment, or it may not. It’s the ruthless streak I’m seeing.”
Summer said, “Roman’s not ruthless. Commanding, maybe.”
“What happened to arrogant?” I asked. “Overbearing? Impatient?”
“That too,” she said, and picked up her tray.
“The comparisons just make themselves,” Matiu said.
Summer asked me, “Am I the buffer zone, or going to bed?”
“You’re the one who’s giving me her impressions afterward,” I said.
“Got it,” she said. “Then let’s go have some drama. Always nice when it’s somebody else’s.”
20
THE TRUTH
Summer
Well,thiswasn’t what I’d expected tonight. I was reeling a little, honestly. This was meant to be my calming year! My reinvention year, when I went back to being on an even keel, far from any home and any person I’d ever known except Delilah, with gentle waves of ups and downs that I rode back to equilibrium. Ever since the cyclone had hit, though, my life kept veering toward that out-of-control territory again, the way it had done after my arrest for fraud.
The very word still sent an icicle into my heart.Fraud.“I’m a good person, though,” I’d wanted to explain to the cops on the day I’d been arrested. “I’m honest. Hardworking. A rule follower! Let me show you my college transcripts, and my evaluations from work, and …” Except that nobody had cared about any of that.
I wasn’t a fraud. The judge had said so, and I knew so. No matter what anybody thought, I was authentic, and I was staying authentic. I focused on yet another tray I was carrying tonight, on the soapy feel of flagstones under my bare feet, the burbling and splashing of the fountain, the sweet, headyscent of night-blooming jasmine, the winking of the stars poking through the dark curtain of the sky, and followed Roman to the house. He stopped halfway there, though, and, confused, I stopped as well. He put his hand on my low back and asked, his voice low, “OK?”
“OK,” I said, and felt something settle inside me. I was here to help, and I knew how to help. It wasn’t my drama, and I could walk away, but for now? I’d help.
“Good.” He didn’t smile, just opened the door and held it. Matiu, probably a little older than Roman but even better-looking, followed us in. Roman took the tray from me and said, “I’ll do this.” Excuse to be busy a minute more, maybe.
In the kitchen, Daniel was seated at the table, and Roman’s mum—Lola—was making tea as if she did it here every day, or possibly as if she thought Roman should move out and give the house to her, since he didn’t need it and she’d appreciate it so much more. Delilah was leaning against the stove, arms folded, watching her.
Lola said, when Roman deposited the tray, “Oh, lovely. Wine.” She grabbed the bottle. “I meant to ask you to open a bottle, but we’ll just have this. Your tea will be ready in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, Daniel. He doesn’t drink anymore,” she told Roman. “So disciplined and wise. A bit like you, really, isn’t he? Would you like wine, Matiu? Hand me down the glasses, Roman.”
Matiu said, “No, thanks, as I’m driving. I’ll take a cup of tea, though.” He sat down next to his—uncle?, which meant nobody else had to sit there, anyway.
Delilah said, “So this is some sort of family drama? Are Summer and I supposed to discreetly fade away, or what?”
“Probably best, darling,” Lola said. “Itisa bit sensitive. Discussing money around outsiders can be awkward.” She poured herself a glass of wine that showed she had no concept of a “standard drink.”
“No,” Roman said. “You shouldn’t fade away, discreetly or otherwise, and we won’t be discussing money. Get a cup of tea and sit down.”
