Page 56 of Packing for Vacation

“Canada! Wow. Wait, you’re not in Canada, are you? You’re not moving there?!” There’s the hint of a whine in her voice that sends fear running through me, because I know what that means. Fuck. This isn’t the time to discuss it now, though.

“No, I’m up north. See?” I turn around, pointing to a large green pūriri moth on the wall. “That guy’s a native.”

She looks unimpressed. “I don’t care about bugs.”

“My omega’s name is Lizzie, and I was going to bring her to Christmas so you could meet her, but there’s been a hiccup.”

“A hiccup.”

“She’s gone into heat.”

I watch Amokura’s face transform from surprise to absolute disgust. “Ugh! Dad!” she cries, her face disappearing as her phone is tossed onto her bed. “Dad! That’s so gross! Why would you call me to tell me this?!”

“Because I’m missing Christmas, and I’m sorry,” I say to the poster of a Kpop idol on her bedroom wall.

“Da-ad. Yuck! This should have been an email!”

I laugh. She’s heard me say that plenty of times over the years. “I don’t think there’s any format that would make delivering this news any better.”

“Yeah, you’re right, it’s weird no matter how you look at it. You could have just said you were busy,” she says, picking up the phone again. I hear a muffled voice in the background and recognise it to be Leilani, her mother. Amo’s eyes dart away from the phone camera. “Nah, it’s just Dad. He called me to tell me he’s missing Christmas because he’s gonna be boning his omega through a heat.”

“What?!” I hear Leilani say. A moment later, the phone is taken off Amo and Leilani’s face appears. “What did you just tell our daughter?”

“The truth.”

“Matiu.”

“I met an omega. She’s my scent match. She’s just gone into heat. Shit timing, I know. I’m gonna miss Christmas.”

Leilani covers her eyes with her hand, shaking her head. “Really? Really?”

“Really.”

Her lips press into a thin line, the image shaky as she walks through their house. I hear Amo protest about Leilani stealing her phone before Leilani answers with a “Just let me talk to your father for a moment.” The click of a door closing quietly is barely audible through the call.

“Matiu Thompson, why did you think it was best to tell our daughter this before warning me? What happened to our rules? Or are you altering the terms now that she’s eighteen?”

Fuck. She’s right. “I’m sorry. I’m not thinking straight. I’m covered in omega pheromones. They go straight to my⁠—”

“Matiu!”

“My head! My big head, not the other one.”

She makes the same look of disgust as Amo. “Eww, Matiu.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry about this, and I’m sorry about missing Christmas. I told her because I don’t want her to think I’m a shit father.”

Leilani rolls her eyes. “She’d never think that. You’ve never missed a single important day. But I will say, I’m glad there’s an explanation for your shady behaviour, because you’ve been very cryptic the last couple of weeks and I knew something was up.”

“I was going to bring Lizzie along.”

“To Christmas? Wow. Well thank fuck she went into heat now instead of then, in front of everyone. That would have been even more scandalous than the whole Rāwiri-Īhaka-Kris saga. Have you told your mum yet?”

“Nope. I was going to leave that to you.”

She gives me an unimpressed glare. “No way. Get your brother to do your dirty work for you.”

“Which one?”