Hemi’s head whips to me. “Is it supposed to snow?”
“No, but we’ll be fine if it does. I’ve driven this route a million times, but I’m less fond of driving it when the roads are icy or there’s snow.” This is the slower and safer route, I flinch worse than Hemi taking the faster route over the mountain range.
“Motherfucker.” Hemi ducks to avoid a car racing past us, and he turns to me desperately. “Distract me. Please.”
His face is leeched of colour, and his eyes are wide as he blinks slowly. I don’t want to scar him on his first trip here, especially when he’s supposed to be relaxing. I rack my brain, trying to think of something to talk about.
“Did you know it was me that got Daisy into rugby?” I ask, going with the first thing that comes to mind.
He relaxes in his seat slightly and avoids looking out the window. “Really?”
“Really. Before me, she’d barely watched any games.”
Hemi’s mouth drops open. “Not even the World Cup?”
I shake my head and smile. “Not even that. Her family isn’t into rugby.”
“I can’t believe it. I mean, I know not everyone watches it, but it’sDaisy.Our physio. How?”
I grin at his complete shock. I wasn’t expecting it to be such a surprise, but he isn’t flinching anymore, so I’ll drag the story out as long as I can.
“I did a degree in English, and we both lived in the same flat. A fucking disgusting six-person university flat, full of people who didn’t know how the dishwasher worked or what the toilet brush was.” I shudder at the memory, and my face scrunches. I glance at Hemi again and see the look of disgust on his face and continue, “We were the only clean ones. And neither of us are particularly clean. It just seemed like it in that flat. So we stuck together.
“On a Saturday night, I was reading this depressing book for class, and I couldn’t take it anymore. There was a game on, and I was lonely. Hadn’t made many friends, and Daisy was at home, so I asked if she wanted to watch the game with me.” I laugh and talk through my smile. “The absolute horror I felt when she said she’d never watched a game. How, when you live in New Zealand, have you never watched a game? After her confession, I forced her to watch a game, and later that week she came into my room and asked if there was another game on.” Hemi grins, his focus completely on me, and I swallow nervously. “So it became tradition to watch the game together, and she shifted her focus from netball to rugby.”
“And now she works for the team. That’s amazing.”
“That did surprise me. You should have heard her squeal when she got the job.”
Hemi snorts. “Should have heard mine when I got the call. I wasn’t even ashamed of the girly sounds I made because I was on the national team.” He goes quiet and shakes his head.
“You’re on the team, Hemi. A break doesn’t mean anything. All it means is you need a break from work, like anyone else,” I say softly. I didn’t want to address why he was here; I didn’twant to make him more uncomfortable, but I can’t let him look that forlorn in my car when he needs to relax.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“You’ll get some rest and find your mojo again.”
“My mojo?” Hemi purses his lips but loses the battle and laughs. “Who says that?”
I grin. “What’s wrong with mojo?”
“Nothing. Totally nothing,” he says through laughter. “But no athlete would ever say that.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not an athlete then. I can bring you down to my level.”
Hemi shakes his head slightly with a wide smile on his face. He looks out the window, and his jaw drops. We left the windy roads a while ago and are driving in a more comfortable straight line to Wanaka.
“I can’t believe you live here.”
“Sometimes neither can I.” I drive past Lake Wanaka waterfront slowly so Hemi can take it all in, the burnt orange leaves against the turquoise blue lake, and head up the hill towards my house. “I grew up in Auckland on a main road. Having this on my doorstep was quite the adjustment.” Not that I take advantage of it as I should, but maybe I could go for a walk this week. Daisy would be so proud. I’ll have to send her photos otherwise she won’t believe me.
I love nature. But I prefer to look at it than be in it.
“I can imagine. My flat’s in the CBD, and I miss having a garden. I’d probably kill anything I plant though, considering how often I travel.” Hemi’s lips turn down.
“Maybe in a few years you can have one? Or get those inside plants that are really hard to kill.”
“Succulents?”
