Page 20 of The Player in New Zealand
Somes Island was just a few miles from the city dock, an island in Wellington Harbour accessible only via a ferry. It had been on the list Nina had made for me, one of the places I could get to without a car. Demi, Phillip, and I boarded the ferry the next day, getting prime seats since it was a Monday, even though it was nearly peak tourist season.
“So what has you grouchy?” Phillip asked me after we had settled into our seats on the open-air top deck. Phillip was perhaps a decade or so older than Demi, and looked like a kind grandfather. A kind French grandfather. I liked him a lot.
I ranted for most of the twenty-five-minute trip, explaining the drink special to them, how Tane “forgot” about it, his general behavior around the bar, and Nina’s disappointment. “The thing that really gets to me, though,” I said, “was that it was, like, aresigneddisappointment. Like this is Nina’s lot in life, to have her brother be a constant problem.”
Demi hummed as we disembarked the ferry onto Somes Island and got distracted making a plan of attack for the visit.
We walked the trails of the island, scoured the small pebbled beaches for seashells, and I even saw my first sheep, the cotton balls dotting the vibrant green landscape while they mowed the grass. We laughed as Phillip stepped into a sheep patty. And then we laughed doubly hard as he climbed over one of the stiles in the fields and got his jeans caught on the fence.
Demi and Phillip had packed a picnic lunch—cheese and bread and jam, very French—and we sat on one of the picnic tables overlooking the fields.
Demi told me about working with Greenpeace and some hair-raising stories of protests in the seventies. I felt like I’d had a sheltered life, and when I said this, Demi patted my cheek.
“You’ve just not lived yet,” she said in her thick accent. And then she changed the subject. “You talked a lot about this Tane and how he lets his sister down. But he let you down too, no?”
“He let all the staff down.”
“Ah, but you put in the most work. And you had gotten him to agree to the drink special and I am sure that he’ll still be involved in making decisions.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled.
“It is tough that there is nothing you can do about it. Tane is his own man. He has to make his own path.”
“That is not easy for some people,” Phillip chimed in.
“But it’s okay to be upset at him for yourself,” Demi continued. She leaned over, pressing her shoulder into mine.
At the end of the day we boarded the ferry again. I’d walked miles and miles on Somes, and when I caught sight of myself in the mirror in the restroom, I did a double take. I was flushed from the exertion of the day, and I looked... relaxed. Talking with Demi and Phillip had helped me let go.
* * *
Well... I’d only been able to letsomeof my anger go. Just seeing Tane sitting at the bar when I arrived for my shift the next afternoon made my jaw clench. Of course he had a beer in front of him.
“Claire,” Tane said, nodding at me as I clocked in.
“Hey.” I kept my attention off Tane while Marissa clocked out and we moved the open tabs over to my name. She left and it was just me, Tane, and the customers out on the back deck with Ron. I pulled out some lemons to slice and restock, setting up as far down the bar as I could get from Tane.
“Ron says I may owe you an apology again.”
I glanced down the bar to find Tane watching me, a little amusement on his face, and my anger came out of nowhere.
“What, that’s funny? You find the whole thing amusing?” I said, incredulous.
The smirk dropped to a frown. “What, did I pour my own beer again?”
I stomped over and set my palms on the bar in front of him. Being upset with him might not change his behavior, but maybe it would be cathartic for me. “Everyone was disappointed you didn’t come for the drink special.” He opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him talk. “Not just me—everyone: Marissa, Ron,your sister. But I guess that’s funny to you. Our fault, for expecting you to be involved.”
My voice had risen, and when the door swung open behind Tane, I took a deep breath and stepped back, smiling at the couple walking in. “Hello! Are you here for the range or would you like a drink?”
I set them up in a corner booth and took their drink orders. When I returned from delivering the drinks, Tane had moved to the back of the bar, his usual spot, and I refused to look at him.
Group by group, customers came in and kept me busy. In the late afternoon, a few of Tane’s normal crowd came in, ordered their drinks from me at the bar, and then joined Tane.
Later, when their table was littered with empty glasses, I forced myself to walk over with a tray to clean up.
“Another round?” I asked. It came out a little petulant.
Tane pushed back against the table, scowl in place. “How about one of the bottles of craft? Dealer’s choice.”
