Page 53 of Just Watch Me
“Fair point,” Gordon said. “Excellent pudding, Skylar. If I’m called up as replacement cover while the ABs are down there, I could come by on those days off myself. In the evenings, for example. Around dinnertime.”
“Which everybody usually does anyway at some point,” Jade said. “Mum and Dad are coming to both matches, France and Ireland. Won’tthatbe interesting.”
“They’ll only be in Wellington for the match against Ireland,” Zane said. “Where they’ll sleep in my room. I’ll be in the team hotel most of the time,” he told Skylar. “This way, though, I get to see the kids when I do have any time off, and getting away is a treat for them, too. That’s why we do it.”
“I don’t remember what’s there,” Georgia said.
“The Fairy Garden at the Botanical Gardens,” Scarlett said. “That’s your favorite. My favorite is the planetarium.”
“Oh,” Georgia said. “I remember the fairy garden.I just didn’t remember where it was. If you came,” she told George, “we could play in it.”
“OK,” George said. Finlay sighed and shook his head, and Skylar fixed him with a look that meant,Boys can play imaginary games too, and they don’t have to be about war and killing and dying.If he was unclear, she’d give him a refresher course later, because she was tired of this. Zane was right. Men could be nurturing too. Menshouldbe nurturing too, and she was cutting this Kiwi-hard-man nonsense off at the knees.
“But where would they sleep?” Scarlett asked. “We use all the rooms.”
“Well,” Granddad said, “I plan to share with Maureen, personally.”
“Yes, thanks, Granddad,” Skylar said. “I think we all got that.” Zane’s brothers looked at each other and grinned. Honestly, did men really think about sexthismuch, that the two of them found that titillating? Maureen and Granddad were nearly eighty!
“You can share with me, George,” Georgia said. “My room there has bunk beds and is very nice.”
“OK,” he said again. “It would be fun to have somebody to play with who likes to play the things I like. And to swim in the swimming pool every day and climb on the structure.”
“I am not sharing my room with a boy,” Scarlett announced. “It’s completely inappropriate, even if it’s Duncan.”
Olive said, “I imagine you’d be sharing with me. I share with George, so I’m used to sharing, but I don’t really care. I’d like to go to the museum and learn things, but Wellington probably costs heaps of money, and Mum doesn’t have heaps of money.”
“Oh, I imagine Zane has that covered,” Jade said. “The white knight rides again.”
That’s what Zane had said before, wasn’t it? He looked more like a dark knight, though. Which was he? Neither? Both? And this was getting away from her, but she couldn’t think how to put an end to it.
“I guess that leaves you and me,” Finlay told Duncan. “I don’t hate you, so it’s OK with me.”
“Except you’re not the host,” Scarlett said, “which means you aren’t the one doing the inviting.”
“Scarlett.”Zane’s voice was so sharp, even Skylar jumped.
Duncan said, “I like having somebody to play with who likes to do boy things and not boring things, so it’s OK with me, too.”
“We could practice our kicking,” Finlay said. “Even though there are only two of us.”
Scarlett said, “Excuse me? You realize that girls play rugby too?”
“Oh,” Finlay said. “Well, you could play too, then, as long as you aren’t bossing us.”
“That’s told you, Scarlett,” Jade said. “Boys, eh. As soon as you’re strong, you’re bossing. Tell me about it.”
“You’re not helping,” Zane said.
“Oh,” she said. “I thought this was a free-for-all. Pardon me.”
Skylar said, as briskly as she knew how, “Well. Lots of points to consider. I’ll have to discuss it with Zane.”
“Mum,”Finlay said. “It’s a chance to go on holiday. We never go on holiday, and this is to someplace exciting for almost no money, because they’ll probably pay!”
“Finlay,”she said, in the same tone in which Zane had said,“Scarlett.”He shut up the same way Scarlett had, too.
“Oh, I imagine he will,” Gordon said. “What d’you say, Zazza? Happy for a bit of company down there, are you?”
