Page 5 of Just Watch Me
“Let me guess,” Jess said. “Oh—oh—Wait, it’s coming to me.Hyundai Country Calendar.What’s it this week? Let’s have a wee peek.” She pulled out her phone. “Oh, well, I can certainly see why you can’t miss this one. ‘A Waikato woman with a passion for genetics runs a top Coopworth sheep stud on rugged coastal country, using scientific testing to produce hardy, parasite-tolerant sheep.’” She set the phone down. “Irest my case. Come on. It’s moral support. Imagine the horror of doing it alone.”
“I thought it was meant to be fun,” Skylar said. “If it’s so much fun, why do you need me?”
“The fun,” Jess said, “comes from doing it together and talking about the hopelessness of the blokes afterward.”
“I thought I was going to find love. Which is it?”
“Well, you’remeantto. Whether youwill …But what’s the alternative? You can’t want to be alone forever.”
“‘Alone’ is the last place I’d possibly be,” Skylar pointed out. “I have three children, one grandfather, one bathroom, and an evil cat.”
“Maybe don’t mention the cat during the dates,” Jess said. “Or the Year One teacher thing, either. Dress in something nice, wear heels, up the makeup a fair bit—not too much, though; don’t want to look desperate—and leave your lovely hair down. No cats, no kids, no dead husbands.”
Skylar took another bite of beans, greens, and grains. It wasn’t as delicious as, say, a meat pie, but it wasn’t terrible, just a bit on the non-meaty side. And possibly the bland side. Of course, “the bland side” probably described her existence. “I know it’s speed dating,” she said, “but what else am I meant to talk about if I’m allowed to bring up precisely none of my actual life?”
Jess waved an arm. “You know. Sport. Your favorite workouts. Music. Whether the PM would look better with a toupee, unless the bloke you’re talking to is wearinga toupee. You sparkle, is the idea.”
“And I’m sparkly exactly how?” Skylar asked. “I’m not sure I own a short skirt that fits, if that’s what you mean by ‘nice’. I’m not even sure I own a mascara anymore. Aren’t you meant to throw away your makeup every two years or something?”
Jessica looked at her in horror. “Every six months formascara. You definitely need to come with me. View it as a training run. What’s the worst that could happen?”
As Jade emerged from the car, Zane said, “Remind me again why I’m doing this instead of relaxing with my kids and running over my notes before heading to the hotel tomorrow. The skipper has responsibilities, you realize. I can’t even have a beer. What sort of evening out is that?”
His sister adjusted the waistband of her skirt and her purse on her shoulder as Zane shut her car door. “Stop whinging. This is good for you. Who knows, you might even meet somebody lovely. More importantly, you’re helping me write the humorous feature that’s going to propel me into a regular gig at theHerald,and as we know, it’s all about me.I told you, I need a man’s point of view. And the fact that it’syourpoint of view is the reason people will read it.”
“Why did they agree to pay you for it if they didn’t think people would read it?”
Jade looked at him sidelong, and he sighed. “You didn’t.”
“Well, yes, I used your name. Of course I did! They wouldn’t have given me the assignment otherwise. And it’s an hour and a half, that’s all. You know they’re all going to want to date you. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel. Although it would be much funnier if they ran away screaming.”
“Shooting fish in a barrel definitely sounds romantic,” he said. “But I’m not that good-looking, if that’s what you mean, and I thought we weren’t using my real name. Not that the girls are likely to know me anyway.”
Jade scoffed. “Yeh, right. You’re the Blues skipper. You’re an All Black. Some of them are sure to recognize you. And you’re nothandsome,exactly, but you’ve got the body and all, ifa woman likes more of a stocky type, and your face is … craggy. That’s the word. Craggy. Craggy’s good.”
“If you’re a rock,” Zane said, opening the door to the bar for her and taking in the room from over her head. “And the ‘stocky type’? Pardon me? I’m not dressed right, either.”
“The time to think about that,” Jade said, “isbeforeyou leave the house.”
“You could’ve shrieked at me or something. That bloke’s wearing some kind of …”
“Linen trousers. Wide-legged. That’s the look this year.”
“They’re white,” he pointed out.
“Cream.”
He took another look. “Maybe for a back. No forward would be caught dead in that.”
She sighed and slapped a sticker onto his chest. “Gin up your casual-yet-sexy chat, Henry. You’re about to speed date.”
Her face hurt from smiling, and she was a Year One teacher! She practically smiled for a living.
“So what sort of sport do you enjoy, Sky? That’s a pretty name,” the man opposite her was saying now. He was wearing wide cream linen trousers and a matching jacket with the sleeves shoved up, with an apricot T-shirt underneath. His dark hair was short on the sides and a bit floppy on top, and his scruff was just-so. Her own jeans were on the skinnier side, which had caused Jess to give her a quick, horrified glance before she’d recovered enough to pronounce her “gorgeous,” but that was what she’d had! She hadn’t realized quite how out of style they were. Shewaswearing boots with a good heel and a turquoise shirt that she’d always thought was quite nice, and she’d used a lint roller on the cat hair, but …
Oh. Sport. She considered saying, “Freeze tag,” but decidedon, “I watch some rugby, and on my own, I’ve been enjoying lifting.” “Lifting,” apparently, sounded more dedicated and hip than, “I lift weights whilst watching TV.”
“CrossFit?” the bloke asked. His name was Trevor. “Or are we talking Body Pump at Les Mills? Though they’ve got the Heavy program now, which is a bit less cringe.”
