Page 154 of Just Watch Me
“It’stotallythe point,” Scarlett said. “Because you probably bought the wrong engagement ring, too. Maybe you should ask her next week instead, when we’re back in Auckland, so I can go to the shop with you first. We could take yours back and get the money for it. You’re not exactly fashionable, Dad.”
Zane said, “Not necessary, thanks. Besides my terrible taste, does anybody have anything to say about this plan? You, for instance, mate,” he told Finlay. “Anything we need to hash out beforehand, if I’m going to be your stepdad? And this is dead secret,” he decided he’d better remind them. “No telling the little kids.”
“Because she might say no, you mean,” Scarlett said. “And it would be embarrassing if everybody knows.”
“Girls don’t say no,” Finlay said. “Not if they’re in love. I’ve seen it in a million movies. Every one that you pick out, anyway. The man kneels down and holds out the box, and the girl puts her hands on her face and cries, and he puts the ring on her finger, and they kiss. I don’t know why it’s in every movie, because it’s dead boring. The exact same thing every time.”
“Exactly like every movieyoupick,” Scarlett countered. “The ending is always the heroes fighting with the villains for about fifteen minutes—or anhour—and then the heroes win and everybody makes jokes and the credits start. Every single time.”
“I have to watch, though,” Finlay said. “For fighting technique.”
“Excuse me?” Scarlett said. “We’re taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsutogether,not just you, and they’re not doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in those films. They’re usually using superpowers, and we don’t have superpowers. How does that help your technique?”
“It helps my inspiration, then,” Finlay said. “Besides, it’s fun.”
“Fine,” Zane said. “Not the question I asked, but fine.”
“As long as you kneel down,” Scarlett said. “And have the ring. And say her whole name. The guy always says her whole name.”
Finlay said, “It’s cool, though, if you get married. I like sharing with Duncan better than being in my loft, and it gets confusing going back and forth. It’s good to have more toilets, and the swimming pool and trampoline. And Snowball might not be so naughty if he were at one house all the time. Remember when you came home from the U.K. and he’d pooed in your trainers? That was funny, but you probably don’t want him to keep doing it. Mum says he’s a temperamental cat, but he’s really just a bad cat. She likes him anyway, though, so I don’t think you can give him away or anything. Duncan would be pretty upset, for one thing.”
“Nobody’s giving away Snowball,” Zane said. “Although I do plan on building some shoe shelves. The kind that go behind a closed door. And, yes, you’d all live in our house. And keep on being co-captains.Anddoing your chores. Six kids, eh. Too many for one woman, with her husband gone.”
Husband.He liked the sound of that. He always had. It was a bit like “captain,”which was another of his favorites.
“Well, obviously,” Scarlett said. “Excuse me? I’mthirteen?Besides, it’s kind of nice to always have somebody to do things with. And to practice rugby with. I think, when it’s term time again, you should let Finlay and me walk the other kids back and forth to their school. I don’t think Nan and Geoffrey really want to do it anymore, and Finlay and I aredefinitely old enough to supervise. Besides, Nan says the best water aerobics class is at nine.”
“We could do that,” Finlay said. “Except that Duncan was saying that he and Olive should just walk them since they’re both nine now, and that’s old enough.”
“They’re probably a bit jealous,” Scarlett said, “because you and I are always in charge. People like to be in charge.”
“Youlike it, anyway,” Finlay said.
“We’ll see,” Zane said. “Good idea about the walking,” he decided to add. “Sharing the, ah, leadership duties.” How did they keep getting off the point?
“We could have, like, a Family Council,” Scarlett said, “if you and Skylar get married. With meetings. Skylar gave me this book calledCheaper by the Dozen—it’s pretty old-timey, but it’s a true story, and it’s funny, so being old is OK—and that’s what they did. They hadelevenkids in their family, and they had charts for chores like you made, Dad, and the older kids responsible for the younger ones, and meetings, too, so everybody got to give their opinion, even the little kids. The book was before seatbelts, though, so everybody fit in one car. You should probably get a new car if you’re going to get married. That people-mover kind.”
“Mum didn’t like that car,” Finlay said. “She said it was too big.”
“We’ll find one she likes,” Zane said. “OK, then. I’ll take Skylar on that outing—we’ll call it four o’clock—and you’ll be in charge. Dinner at five-thirty or so, I reckon, and you’re waiting to do the actual cooking until we’re back. Andno telling.Secret, eh.”
“Because you’re nervous,” Scarlett said. “We get it, Dad.”
Skylar said, strolling down the beach with Zane, “It was awfully nice of Scarlett and Finlay to volunteer for dinner duty, tonight. Although that means you and I will be on washing-up duty. Turnabout’s fair play, after all.”
“I reckon we can do that,” Zane said, and then nothing else.
“You’re making me a bit nervous,” Skylar decided to inform him. “You ask me on a walk, and now you’re barely talking. Which is OK, because you’re holding my hand, and anyway, I like when you’re quiet and calm, but you don’tfeelcalm. You’ve got your Inscrutable Face on. Or maybe your Game Face.”
“I don’t wear my Game Face with you,” Zane said. “Ever. Or if I do, I don’t know it, and you should tell me. I’m offended. I’m quiet and considerate off the pitch. I know, because some interviewer said so.”
“Oh, then itmustbe true,” she said, and somehow, she was laughing. Probably because he sounded like himself again. “Pardon me. You’re clearly being considerate. Where are we going, by the way?”
“Walking. I thought that was good. Want to sit down instead?”
“Uh … no. Walking is fine.” She’d swum what felt like about a mile every day of this holidays, and done yoga on the beach with the kids,andjoined in their games of beach cricket. She was going to need to go back to work just to have a rest. “Is this a romantic time? A conversation? Or what?”
He said, “And the kids sayI’mnot romantic. If I announce it, does that make it more romantic, or less? Don’t care. I’m announcing it. This is romantic.”
