Page 16 of Finding Zara


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“Everyone’s out the back, on the deck. It’s such a nice day, it seemed a shame to sit inside. Plus it gives the baby a chance to have a good nap, with us all outside.” She led the way from the living room, through the kitchen and out to the deck.

“Uncle Matt, look at this!”

“Eew, gross, Chloe, what is that?”

“A loose tooth, silly!”

“Whoaaa, that’s amazing.”

“Yes! And if it falls out, Mommy says the tooth fairy might give me a dollar. A whole dollar! Daddy says maybe we could go to the candy shop and get a sour strap. Mila’s sad ’cuz she got no wobbly teeth. I can get a sour strap, can’t I, Daddy? If I have enough money, I’ll buy Mila one too.”

I handed Chloe off to her father, who had risen from the table at my arrival. We shook hands. “Tom.”

“Hi, Matt. Everything okay?”

“Sure, sure. Just trucking along.”

I moved around the table, greeting each of my sisters in turn, holding onto Mila as I did so. When I got to my oldest sister, I said, “Hey, Claire. Jen not here?”

“Yeah, in the toilet. Not feeling too well.”

“Oh, that’s no good.”

Claire shrugged, a mischievous look dancing in her eye. “She’ll be fine.” It wasn’t like her to be dismissive if her partner was unwell, so I looked at her a long moment, but when she merely gazed steadily back at me without speaking, I left it.

“Hi, Elle.”

“Here’s my favorite brother, with my bundle of joy in his arms. Want me to take her?”

“What do you reckon, Mila? Wanna sit with Mom?”

Mila shook her head emphatically and Elissa laughed. “There’s nobody else for her when you’re around, you know that.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

I squeezed behind her chair and made my way to where my father, Bruce, was tending the barbecue.

“Hey, son.”

“Hi, Dad. How’s it going?”

“Couldn’t be better.” He rubbed Mila’s back. “You better now that Uncle Matt’s here, sweetie?” She leaned her head on my shoulder in answer and I pressed my cheek against her hair. Dad pulled the thermometer out of the pork on the barbecue and checked it. “Take a seat, this will be a few more minutes yet.”

I sat down next to my sister Lucy, arranging Mila comfortably on my lap and putting my arm around her as she snuggled in for cuddles. Lucy passed me a beer and we tapped the bottles together.

“How’re you doing?”

Lucy shrugged. “Ech. Not too bad. Good days and bad, you know?”

“Have you spoken to Richard?”

“No, not for a couple of weeks. He kept calling and calling when he got the divorce papers, but then Dad told him to back off and he hasn’t contacted me since. It really is for the best. He just has to see that for himself. Neither of us was happy. We want different things from life. I just admitted it first.” She picked at the label on her beer bottle absently, dropping the pieces on the table.

“And how’s it going here? Living with Mom and Dad, I mean?”

She looked around and dropped her voice. “Honestly? It’s a bit weird. I’m thirty years old and back home with my parents in my old room. I found my old Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the wardrobe.” She grinned wryly at my laugh. “Mom and Dad have been amazing, though. You know Mom packs my lunch every day? In a brown paper bag and everything.”

“No, does she really?”

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