“Friday. You need to move around, get your blood flowing.” Nev was frowning. Nev smelled like sheep, lavender and smoke. “This is my fault.”
“How?”
“I should have come earlier to check on you. I thought they were taking care of you.”
“They have been. They’ve been bringing me meals and watching telly with me. They’ve been wonderful. It’s a long recovery. I’m not milking it. I think your expectations are too high.”
Nev shook her head. “The doctor told you to walk around.”
“Leave me alone. I’m doing the best with what I’ve got.” She exhaled impatiently. “You could have visited me after you got back. I know I’ve been boring. I’ve also been bored. I don’t want to be here any more than you do. I’m sure you have more important things to do.”
“You’re right. I should have visited earlier. I was being an idiot.” Nev’s eyes looked tired, like she hadn’t been sleeping. “I didn’t want to intrude.”
“Into what?”
“I don’t hang out with people in their twenties.”
“You’re my friend. I want you around. I like spending time with you.”
Nev chuckled. “I don’t have friends in their twenties.”
Ronnie swallowed a lump in her throat. “Well, now you do.” It was hard to imagine what would have happened if Nev hadn’t found her that night. Nev had saved her life twice, both times at night, both times at the farm.
Nev drew a deep breath.
April was always touch-and-go. Every day was the anniversary of another massacre. Ronnie had researched it, had learned enough to wish she had learned less.
Nev’s eyes were gentle.
April 25, Anzac Day. From her dad’s couch in the family room she could hear Nev hoovering the bedrooms in an awkward attempt to be useful. Nev couldn’t sit still and do nothing.
Being stuck on the couch with no abdominal muscles blew. Ronnie wanted to fast-forward eight to twelve weeks.
Mattie pontificated over speakerphone. “If you end up marrying a hot woman and wanting more kids, she can use my sperm. Up to you how it gets delivered.”
“You’re gross,” Ronnie said. “Are you dating anyone?”
“Nothing serious.”
“Are any of your teammates out? You can’t be the only secretly bi one.” Mattie wasn’t out at work. People assumed he was straight based on his profession, the way they assumed she was a lesbian.
On the other end of the line, he chuckled. “Thanks for outing me.”
Ronnie inhaled sharply, wincing at the twinge in her scar, pressing her belly below the waistband of her gym shorts. “You’re not at practice. It’s a holiday.”
“You got me. It’s not something we ruggers talk about. If they are, it hasn’t come up.”
“That’s what she said.”
“Mum?” A muffled voice from the bathroom.
“Yeah?”
“Can you come here for a minute?” Rainbow asked.
“Coming!” Ronnie turned off speaker phone and held the phone to her ear. Nev had reappeared from the bedrooms and returned the vacuum to the closet. “Gotta run. Talk later. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Stinky.”
