Page 79 of The Wrong Billionaire
“Sorry,” she says, “the smell of bacon lured me out.”
“That’s perfectly understandable. You want a coffee?”
“Oh, I was just about to make one.”
“I’ll do it. I like doing things for you.” I go into the kitchen, not missing Ruth’s smile.
“So,” Wren says, “explain why you fell in the pool at your cousin’s wedding.”
I start the coffee machine going and fetch some milk from the fridge. “I was only ten. Caesar was fifteen. We’d caused a bit of havoc with some of my younger cousins in the house, and Mum sent us all out to the garden. We were playing cricket, and the ball landed on the grass beside the pool and rolled through the bars. Caesar and I raced to see who could get it first, and I got there, but he pushed me, and I fell in.”
“So how did he fall in too?”
“I grabbed his jacket and pulled him after me.”
She giggles. “I bet your mum wasn’t happy.”
I smile at the memory. “When we squelched up to the house, we were soundly reprimanded, but we could see she was trying not to laugh.” I start the espresso pouring, filling the air with the rich smell of coffee.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Ruth says. “Perfect for…” She glances at Wren and laughs. “I nearly let it slip then.”
Wren’s eyebrows rise. I grin and say, “We’re going on an adventure.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh?”
“I can’t tell you yet. I promise you’ll enjoy it, though.”
“Plenty of time for breakfast first,” Ruth says, and I nod and start the milk steaming.
She serves everything up with slices of toast, and we eat it at the breakfast bar with hot coffee and cold orange juice, while Wren pushes Ruth for more stories about when we all lived here while she washes the pans.
“You must have missed them a lot when they moved to Auckland,” Wren says, composing a forkful of toast, sausage, and bacon, and dipping it in her egg.
Ruth slides the clean frying pan into the cupboard, then turns and leans against the counter. “Yes, it was tough for a while,” she admits. “The boys had already left for university, and Aurelia was preparing to go. They were all in Auckland, andEdward was flying up there several times a week, and in the end Cece said it would make sense for them to be based up there. She was right of course… but yes, it was hard, especially when she fell ill.”
“Oh, of course.” Wren’s brow furrows, and she looks at me and rests her hand on mine.
“Mum wanted to stay in Auckland for the treatment so she could be near us all,” I say. “But in between, she came and stayed down here.”
“Always best to come to the country when you need healing,” Ruth states. “It really did her good.”
“Mainly because you fussed over her like a mother hen,” I tease.
She chuckles. “She needed fussing over, having the three of you to worry about.” She turns and picks up another pan to wipe up. “So… do you really think your dad will retire?”
I have a mouthful of sausage and bacon, and nod. “He’s talking about leaving at the end of the year, when he’s sixty. He wants to take Mum away on the boat, sail around the Pacific Islands.”
“Is he the sort of guy who’ll be able to do that?” Wren asks. “Or do you think he’ll still be running the company remotely?”
“No, I think once he’s made the jump, he’ll be happy to hand over the reins. He’s never been into the business side as much as the rest of us. He’s all about the technology. He wants as many people as he can to benefit from it.”
“Have you told her about your plans for saving the world?” Ruth says with a smile.
Wren looks at me expectantly. I shrug. “I’ve been in talks with a couple of big suppliers about rolling out a stripped-back version of the system for developing countries. If small farmers can improve pasture growth even by ten percent, that’s more food, more income, and fewer families pushed off their land.”
Her eyes widen. “That would be amazing.”
“If we can help farmers feed their families with tech we’ve already built, it feels wrong not to.”
