Page 46 of Spring Awakening

He looks up at her. “Yes?”

She rolls her eyes. “Who else is on the list?”

“The whole team.”

“Oh my God.” She groans, but it’s far too fond. “You have to ask them yourself. Make it like a quest. They’ll all be there at the family game day. Stock up on sharpies.”

He writes “Buy sharpies” in his notepad.

“Wait, you can tick Kai,” Mali says. “He’ll give you a whole kit.”

“He will?” her mum asks, her brows high. Her mum has a thing for Kai, and she pretends she doesn’t because he’s young enough to be her son.

“Yeah. He’s the nicest one on the team.”

Zach grunts. “Can’t believe I’m being attacked in my own home. Mosi, are you seeing this?” Her dad lights up and leans closer to him to frown at Mali. It’s the cutest thing she’s ever seen. Mali tries not to overthink how he called her house his home.

“Mali-Ali, really?” her father says, disappointed.

“You’re both ridiculous! Kaiisthe nicest on the team; I just like Zach the most.”

Zach smiles. “You do?”

Mali rolls her eyes. “Not right now!”

Everyone laughs, and Mali smiles at her plate.

“If you send me a list of the things you want done around the house, I can get started this weekend.”

He’s not letting it go. Mali wonders if he’ll sign all his work. Horror runs through her veins at the thought of having to look at them when he’s moved out.

“If I send you a vague idea of what I want, can you figure out everything else? Or do I need to research tools? Dad, what tools do you have?”

“Loads! Don’t buy anything new.” That’s her parents’ favourite phrase. They’d give someone their own sofa if it meant that person didn’t have to buy something new.

Zach laughs. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll look at my tools, and your tools,” he says to her dad, “then I can buy anything else we need. Mosi, you wanna come to the hardware shop with me?”

“Yes,” he says automatically. “I’m free this weekend. Zam, I’m busy this weekend.”

She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m being pushed out of my marriage in real time.”

“Don’t worry, Zamina,” Miriam says. “Mali and I are going to the garden centre on Saturday. You can come with us.”

“You are?” Zach asks.

Mali nods. She’ll double-check with Zach when his mum leaves, but he can tag along if he doesn’t want her left alone with them.

“Yeah, the one on Chantry Lane,” Mali says to Zach. “I was going to ask to borrow your car, but you’ve abandoned me for Dad.”

“Do you have a licence?” he asks, as if she’s a criminal who would willingly endanger his mother.

“Obviously. This isn’t Grand Theft Auto.”

Zach laughs. “We can figure it out. I could drop you off.”

Mali rubs her plate clean with a slice of bread because she has little decorum when it comes to sauce. She shrugs as she answers. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I’ll drive,” her mum says. “If Zach and Mosi take one car, we can take the other.”

---