Page 6 of The Player in New Zealand
I tore myself away from the internet in time for my commute on the bus, and stepped into Haft & Hops fifteen minutes before my shift. Right away my eyes met Nina’s and she quickly stepped over and threw her arms around me.
“Claire. I am so, so sorry about my brother.”
Nina was in her mid-forties, with long dark hair that she wore in a bun on top of her head. Her hugs were good—mom hugs, soft and inviting. She had hugged me when I’d accepted the job, and even in just my first week I had learned that Nina was affectionate. She was kind of a badass, too—raising two girls by day and running a bar by night. When I’d arrived for my first shift, before the bar had opened for the day, I’d found Nina and the girls in one of the booths, Nina in the middle while she read to them. She instructed me from there, and eventually her husband, Hemi, had come in to pick the girls up and take them back home.
She patted me with a heavily tattooed arm as she pulled back. She searched my face. “You didn’t get hurt, right?”
I twisted around and pointed at my butt. “Seriously, have you seen my lack of padding here?” I joked. “Next time tell your brother to land on someone else.”
“Yeah, maybe one of his drinking buddies will take the fall instead,” she said sourly.
“Is he okay?” I asked as she went back to restocking the fridge under the bar and I washed my hands.
“Slice lemons,” she ordered, pointing at the drawer that stored the cutting boards. I obeyed, pulling out a board and knife before grabbing the fruit from the reach-in. “That thick-skulled idiot is fine. He always is.”
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. “Does this happen often?”
“Not... Well, I want to say not often, but it’s probably too often. My brother was a rugby player but got injured, and he just hasn’t been the same since. He’s been out of town this past week, so I hadn’t had the chance to introduce you to him.”
I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think about how to be diplomatic, but decided, fuck it. “Can he fire me?”
“No. New Zealand laws are very strict about these kinds of things,” Nina said, jaw set. “It wasn’t your fault. And I know he didn’t mean it.” She looked at me and I kept my face neutral. “Fuck. I’m going to kill him.” She slammed the fridge door shut. “Last night wasn’t even his worst night. I don’t know what to do.”
I didn’t know anything about how to deal with this scenario, but I also knew Nina wasn’t looking for answers at that moment. Just a friend.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Ooo...” she let out softly. “My first Claire hug.”
I laughed. “What? We’ve hugged before.”
“No,I’vehuggedyou. There’s a difference.”
I wrapped my other arm around her, squeezing tight while she laughed. “Sorry my hugs are bony.”
She swatted my shoulder as I let go. “It was a good hug. Don’t hold out on me anymore.” She laughed as she walked away to a customer flagging her down.
Later, during a lull in service, Nina was wiping down the bar and asked me what my plan was for traveling.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know, you’ve got your visa—what’s your plan to explore? Where are you going to go first?”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “I don’t have time to travel. I need to earn money.”
Nina dramatically slapped her forehead. “Claire. You flew all the way over here and you have what, a year? You have to be excited about something! Plus, you can’t work that much here. You have free time. You need to use it.”
I smiled, not wanting to admit that I didn’t really know much about New Zealand. “I don’t have a car, so that’s going to be a little tricky.”
“Hm.” She wrinkled her nose. “You can buy one. A lot of used cars come here from Japan, where emissions regulations are tougher on older cars. You can get one pretty cheaply.”
I nibbled my lip. “I don’t have the money for that.”
She shot me an apologetic glance. “There are things to do around Wellington, too. Or you can make some friends in your hostel and travel with them, I’m sure. Plenty of people are driving around.”
“You aren’t suggesting I should”—I gasped theatrically—“make friends, are you?”
“Make friends and take advantage of them.”
