Page 81 of The Player in New Zealand
“Nina?” I croaked out.
“Claire, I’m so glad to hear your voice. Are you okay?”
I propped myself up on my palm, blinking rapidly to get my senses back online. “I’ve been better.”
“I would imagine. I spoke to your sister a few times yesterday.”
“Yeah, Tane spoke to her too.”
“You should call her.”
I sighed. Now that it was morning, and Tane was here with me, and Devon hadn’t found me here in the hostel, and I’d slept hard, I was worried.
Last night I had been angry. And scared stupid. But I needed to face the truth.
I said goodbye to Nina, plugged in my phone, and dragged myself into the tiny en suite bathroom. My hair, getting long and unkept, was sticking up in multiple directions. My eyes were crusty, my eyelids smudged from crying and mascara. I cleaned up and stepped out. Tane had stretched his legs out, his feet dangling off the end of the bed.
The room had a small desk, where my power cord was. I curled up in the desk chair, a wooden torture device, and unlocked my phone. “Tane,” I said. “I’m calling Iris.”
His eyes opened and he jackknifed up. “I’m awake,” he said again. He shook his head like a dog and blinked off sleep.
“How did you get here anyway?”
“I flew,” he said simply.
“You got here so fast.”
“The flight’s only an hour long, and they operate all the time. Commuter flights, even. Stop stalling and call her.”
I huffed a breath but hit dial anyway. Iris picked up immediately. “Tane?”
I cleared my throat. “No, it’s me.”
“Claire,” Iris said, and promptly burst into tears. That made me cry too... again. I thought I’d be all dried up by now, but sleep had replenished my tear ducts.
Between gasps, Iris told me she’d left Chris. It was him who’d told Devon where I was. For whatever reason—who was I to try to understand the inner mind of a stalker?—Devon had started to harass Iris and Chris. This was what they had been fighting about lately. Chris was tired of Devon coming around, and was sure that if they just told Devon I was halfway across the world, he’d give up.
Obviously, he hadn’t.
Iris apologized over and over. And I did too. Tane rubbed my back while I listened to Iris tell me about how Devon had been coming by all the time, and she and Chris had fought more and more. Yesterday she’d confronted Chris and he had evaded answering for a while before finally admitting that when Devon had stopped coming by, it was because Chris had told him where I was.
“I am so, so sorry, Claire. I can’t believe Chris would do that. He didn’t think Devon would fly to find you. I didn’t either, but he still doesn’t have the right to know where you are.”
“Where are you now, Iris? Areyousafe?”
“I’m with a friend from work. She’s letting me stay here for a couple weeks till I find my own place. Or move back to Boston. Or... something.”
“Good, I’m glad you have a place to stay.”
“What are you going to do?”
I glanced up at Tane. “I guess we’re going to figure that out.”
Iris and I said goodbye—she apologized for the millionth time—and Tane and I took turns using the restroom and brushing our teeth.
When he came out of the bathroom, I stood up and held out my arms. Tane slid into my embrace, running his hands over my shoulders and down my back, pulling me close and craning down to drop his chin on my head. I wrapped my arms around him, grabbing one wrist to keep my arms around his waist.
I sighed deeply. It was a good hug.
