Page 46 of The Player in New Zealand
He shrugged. “Sometimes we hire a babysitter and have a lunch date. It hasn’t worked with your schedule, I guess.”
“It’s a shame we are going to lose her in a couple months,” Nina added.
Emily gasped. “What? Why?”
“Mum, Claire’s on a working holiday visa. She has to get a new job after six months with us.”
“Pish. That’s ridiculous. Just marry her already.”
Tane and I both choked on our food. Nina snorted. Hemi didn’t even bother looking up from feeding Nora.
“Mum, you know it’s more complicated than that,” Tane chided her.
Yeah,thatwas the problem with her suggestion?
Fortunately, Nina changed the subject—mirth in her eyes as she saved us—and before I knew it, I was full and sleepy, pushing back from the table and trying not to yawn.
We counteracted food comas with tea, coffee, and conversation until Nina’s kids got restless and she checked the time. “Okay, Mum, we’ve got to go catch our flight. Wrangling these kids is going to be difficult.”
“Oh wait, before you go, can you look at the gutter in the back?”
“I nominate Tane. He and Claire only have a couple hours’ drive to Matamata today.” With that, Nina gathered her things—husband and kids included—and said her goodbyes. When the door closed behind them, Tane and Emily went out the back door and looked at the gutters. I made myself useful washing dishes by hand. When they were all clean, I dried and stacked and then wandered back to the photo albums.
Looking at them made me a little sad. I wasn’t sure Iris and I had enough photos of us as kids to fill one album, never mind the half a dozen that I could see.
I snapped a picture of the albums spread open and messaged her.
Do we have any family photo albums?
She didn’t answer right away, so I was still flipping through the albums when Tane and Emily came back in, talking about repair work to the house and how Tane would do some small projects when he was next in town.
“Do you have time for one more thing?” Emily asked, and Tane grimaced, looking at his watch.
“Sorry, Mum. If we don’t get going soon, we will be late to the tour. And I don’t think we’ll have time to check into our hotel now.”
She pouted, but led us to the door, kissing Tane’s cheeks and then mine. “Come back and visit soon,” she called as she waved goodbye. “You too, Claire!”
We both breathed a deep sigh once we pulled away. Mine was knowing that the fake date part was over. Now that we were leaving Auckland behind, I didn’t have to fake being Tane’s girlfriend anymore.
I wondered what Tane’s sigh was for. Was he glad to be away from his mom? It had been a full-on weekend, and I was tired.
But not too tired for the Talk.
I ripped it off like a Band-Aid.
“Why did you stop our kiss last night?”
Tane’s forehead wrinkled, and he glanced over at me to read my face. I tried to look genuinely curious and not overly horny.
“I guess I thought we should take it slow?” His voice pitched up at the end, unsure.
“I’m leaving in a couple months, Tane. And I’m horny.”
He tried to hide his pleased grin, ducking his head and looking out the window. “I didn’t want to just assume you’d be okay with a quick bang.”
I snorted atquick bang.“I’m not okay with a quick bang. A quick bang sounds rushed and unfulfilling. How about a happy medium of a full night in a hotel room, like one near Hobbiton?” I arched an eyebrow playfully and Tane laughed at me.
“You’re pretty straightforward.”
