Page 35 of The Player in New Zealand
I rolled my head over on the headrest to look at Tane. “So, we never talked about who’s getting married.”
Tane told me about the family, the bride and groom and all the extended relatives visiting. He became more animated as we talked, excited to see them. It sounded like it had been a while since they’d had the whole family together.
It was cute, and Tane’s smile as he talked about his family made him seem younger, and I tried to picture what Tane had looked like as a kid.
The names of his relatives were often complicated, and I repeated some of them back to Tane to make sure I had them right. Tane’s excitement kept him talking, and while he talked about his aunts, I closed my eyes and then dropped off to sleep.
Sometime later I blinked awake and stretched. Rolling hillsides were passing by out my window, idyllically dotted with sheep and slashed with fence lines. Tane was staring straight ahead, his big, blunt fingers tapping on the steering wheel to the music quietly playing on the radio. He looked pretty serene for a guy who’d been cooped up in a car all morning.
Tane caught me watching him and smiled, his dark eyes dancing in the daylight with an incoming tease. “You do snore when you sleep upright.”
I didn’t blink at him. “I bet you snore too. That nose of yours looks mangled from the outside; I bet the inside is a labyrinth.”
Tane laughed.
“Sorry I fell asleep. Where are we?”
“Outside Palmerston North,” he said, right as a sign hurled past my window declaring the exact same thing. Not that that told me anything, actually, since I had no idea where Palmerston North was. Or Palmerston South, for that matter. Any of the Palmerstons.
“It’s pretty.”
“Yeah, mate. Good country.”
A quick glance at the dash told me it had only been an hour and a half. I turned to face Tane again. “So you told your mom you were seeing someone?”
He sighed. “Yeah, a couple of months ago. She loves me, but she’s a bit fixated on me settling down.”
“And that got her to leave you alone?”
He rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I thought she’d back off once she knew I was dating someone, but it got worse! She wanted to know how I met you, what your name was, whatiwiyou belonged to—”
“Iwi?” I cut him off.
“Family, or tribe.”
“Does it matter that I’m not Maori? Or from your iwi?”
“Nah.” Tane waved off my concern. “The groom is white too. Mum’s just happy I’m with someone.”
“Okay, so what does she know?”
“You mean what did she wrestle out of me?” He grinned. “We met at the bar. She knows your name is Claire,” he said, and I think he was blushing. “Mum gave me hell when she found out your place card was going to say ‘guest.’ So I called as soon as you agreed, and told her.”
“So not much about me, then? I don’t have to pretend to be someone else?”
“Nah.” He shook his head, shifting in his seat. “Better to stick with the truth, hey?”
We sat in silence for a little while, me watching for signs of the town and Tane steadfastly driving.
A few minutes later we passed a sign that pointed off to the right for the New Zealand Rugby Museum. “Hey, there’s a museum? Are you in it?”
I looked back at Tane just in time to see the muscles in his jaw tick. “Yeah. Everyone is.”
“Is your sister?”
“No.” His eyebrows drew together.
“Your mom.”
