Page 49 of Special Delivery
‘And remember his side fringe?!’
‘The emo phase!’
‘And when he’d play Blink 182 at the cricket nets!?’
‘The emo cricket phase!’
The barbs volleyed across the table as James looked on in mock horror. When Michael began telling a story about an ex-girlfriend, James finally interrupted. ‘That’s enough,’ he said, laughing. ‘A man needs to maintain an air of mystery.’
It was like Poppy had snuck into a secret society of coded in-jokes and they were delighted to have a new audience. Among themselves they argued about who ate the most, who whinged the most, who was funniest, who was smartest, who was their mum’s favourite, who was Mary’s favourite. Everything was a competition with stakes that were tiny but hilarious and they laughed till they cried as they fervently tried to one-up each other.
It wasn’t long before trays of cakes and slices appeared on the table and Kate declared the kids were allowed to eat the rest of the decorations. Lunch had flown. There had been so many jokes to keep up with and stories to file away for later,Poppy had barely had time to chew. She’d just finished her second piece of Mars Bar slice and was packing her stuff to walk back to her cabin when Kate appeared beside her.
‘You coming later?’ she asked, as Poppy shoved the picnic rug into the pram undercarriage.
Poppy stood up and brushed her hair back. ‘Later?’
‘All us young ones—and I use that term very generously—head down to the dam at sunset. It’s a tradition. Didn’t James tell you?’
Poppy glanced over Kate’s shoulder to where James stood chatting to some of the aunts. She felt a stab of … something. Why hadn’t he mentioned it? Two days ago she wouldn’t have expected anything from him. After today … well, he’d had plenty of chances to bring it up.
‘Maybe he doesn’t want me there.’ She tried to say it jokingly but it came out stilted. ‘I couldn’t come anyway,’ she said. ‘I can’t leave Maeve.’
‘Of course he wants you to come!’
‘What’s this?’ asked James, strolling over.
‘I was telling Poppy she has to come to the dam for sunset. Harper can babysit Maeve.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ said James, waving the flies off his sister’s shoulder. Was Poppy imagining it, or did he look uncomfortable?
‘No, really, I don’t want to intrude. I’ve imposed enough already.’
‘No way, you should come!’ cried Kate. ‘It’s very chill. Just drinks and music. The chat gets very funny once the rum comes out.’
James sniggered. ‘I don’t know if you’re selling it that well, sis. Poppy might not want to see that side of us.’
‘Honestly, I’m fine. It’s your special family time.’
‘You’re coming,’ said Kate firmly. ‘Jimmy, you can walk Harper over later and pick up Poppy. Bring a jumper,’ she said to Poppy. ‘It gets cold.’
James shrugged as if to say ‘decision made’. His expression was as unreadable as ever.
Poppy pushed the pram back down the road. A flock of galahs swooped across the valley like rose-tinted gossamer in the breeze. If James didn’t want her there, she didn’t want to go. But then, Kate had invited her, and she liked Kate.
She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to seem clingy, but if they were friends (were they?) he wouldn’t think that, would he?
The dam was now dotted with boats. The distant whirring of motors purred on the breeze and gum leaves rustled above her. Did everyone find the real world this tricky? She wondered. Before she’d had Maeve, she’d been insulated by corporate life, where there were clear standards of behaviour and you could trace your course of action on a neat decision tree. If yes, do this; if no, do that. Even at school, everyone had been institutionalised enough to decipher wrong from right and weird from cool, but out here, in the real world, every line was so fuzzy. People could be vague and chatty and bump your knee, and it was up to you whether you read into that or not.
Poppy asked herself again, more sternly this time:Should I go to the dam?Despite using her most intimidating internal voice, she still had no idea.
CHAPTER 22
‘Ding-dong!’ James’s silhouette filled the doorframe again. ‘We’re here.’
‘Hi,’ said Poppy, standing up from the floor, where she’d been lying next to Maeve scrolling through her #FoodBaby-filled Instagram feed. For lack of making a decision, it seemed she had—by default—decided to go to the dam. She’d also, for lack of active decision-making, not texted Patrick. All things considered though, this was progress.
‘You guys match!’ exclaimed Harper. Poppy had changed into a pair of leggings and a baggy old Canterbury rugby jumper. James was wearing an old rugby jumper too, similarly faded and ratty around the cuffs.
