Page 15 of Finding Tane
Trying not to think too hard aboutwhyI wanted to impress him so much, I took my groceries, collected a couple of things from the motel room and then made my way to Dillon’s.
I knocked on the door and Ivy opened it almost immediately.
“HI! Come on in, it’s so nice to meet you. Dillon said you’d be cooking dinner? That’s so cool, I can help if you like, I’m not really doing anything and I’m pretty okay in the kitchen, you know?”
I set the bags and my guitar down and looked Ivy in the eyes. “Ivy. Thank you, please breathe.”
“Breathe? What? I am breathing, I’m totally fine with global superstar recording artist Whetu being in my house.”
She fanned herself with one hand.
I gently but firmly took hold of her shoulders. “I’ll answer any questions you have, just please, take a breath in and let it out slowly. I don’t want you passing out.”
“Oh, okay.” Ivy took a few slow breaths and her shoulders relaxed under my hands.
I let go.
“You can call me Tane,” I said. “Now, what do you want to know?”
Ivy peppered me with the basic questions I was used to getting in interviews, as I gathered things up and we walked together into the kitchen. I answered with as much honesty as I could muster.
Once those questions were out of the way, she relaxed a bit more.
“Thank you for that,” she said. “So um, if you don’t mind me asking, why the hell are you in Foggy Basin?”
I chuckled as I pulled out the rewena bug and started measuring flour.
“Wait, before you answer, what the hell is that?”
“It’s a rewena bug? Think like a sourdough starter, but it’s for Maori bread. Really I should have made the dough last night and let it rise but... I don’t have bowls and stuff at the motel.”
Ivy started sorting the rest of my groceries, finding an onion. “Should I chop this?”
“Please.” I swallowed, mixing the bug in with water and a little sugar. “You asked why I’m here? I don’t know why I chose this town in particular, but it all got too much back in L.A. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, everyone just wanted so much, like they were in this massive crowd, yelling and reaching for me and I was standing there, shaking with nothing left to give.”
“Ooof.” Ivy nodded. “That’s a lot.”
“So much.”
“Has it been better since you’ve been here?”
I laughed, unable to stop myself. “Yes. Like, I can remember how overwhelmed I was, how my head ached, and if I even think about turning on my old phone I get heart palpitations, but everything is so quiet here. I’m actually sleeping close to seven hours a night, it’s so quiet.”
“Ugh, tell me about it.” Ivy pulled a face. “It’s too quiet for me, sometimes. A lot of the time. Glad for you though.”
“What are you studying?” I found myself liking Ivy, she was so easy to talk to. Like Dillon, she had a whole aura ofsafearound her that I relaxed into.
“I’m a writer, so I’m studying literature and journalism, but I really want to get into writing and publishing novels,” she said.
“What kind of novels?”
“I don’t know... I’m still working that part out.”
I’d mixed the dough and floured the countertop to turn it out and start kneading it. “So, does your brother have someone special in his life?”
Ivy laughed. “Smooth, very smooth and casual. No, he’s single. He’s dated before but nothing serious, and yes he’s very gay.”
I grinned at her, working the dough with muscle memory. She grinned back, and then something about her experience grew troubled.
