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Smiling, I turn and walk back to the others. They all look up expectantly as I approach.
“She’s coming tomorrow at three,” I say.
They all cheer, and I laugh and sit back in my deckchair. “You have to promise not to overwhelm her,” I tell them.
“We won’t.” Aroha grins. “You’re smiling.”
I scowl. “No I’m not.”
She reaches over to squeeze my knee. “She’s obviously good for you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I get up again. “I’m going to play cards with my cousins.” I go inside, where the two girls and the other kids are setting up a game around the table.
Just like Sidnie, I feel as if tomorrow is a glittering present Santa’s left under the tree. I can’t wait to see what lies beneath the shiny paper.
*
I pull up outside Sidnie’s parents’ house on Christmas Day just before three. Just me today—I left Jamie in Matauri Bay.
As I put the handbrake on, the front door opens, and Sidnie comes out. She looks amazing in an above-the-knee bright orange beach dress, but she doesn’t have a bag. I lower the window as she comes up to the car, hoping she hasn’t changed her mind.
“Everything all right?” I ask.
She bends down and leans on the sill. “I’m so sorry. Mum and Dad have asked if you’d come in for a second.”
“Oh. Sure.” I unbuckle myself.
“They want to ask you about your prospects,” she says, straightening as I open the door. I give her a wry look as I get out. “Not really,” she adds. “But they do want to say thank you.”
I lock the car, then hesitate. “That’s not necessary.”
“I know. I told them it’ll be embarrassing for you. But they think it’s the least they can do. And they want to meet the guy who has their girl all a-quiver.”
I move a bit closer to her and hold her hand. “I make you all a-quiver?” I bend my head to kiss her.
She lets me, then moves back and scolds, “They’re watching us. Didn’t you see the curtains twitch?”
I laugh and let her lead me up the path and into the house.
We enter a small hallway, and then go through a door into the living room. Wow, it’s tiny. Five people are standing there, all looking at me eagerly.
“Everyone, this is Mack. Mack, this is my sister, Kate.” She indicates a slightly older version of herself without the wild hair.
“Hello, Mack.” Kate shakes my hand, looking at me with big eyes. “Wow, you’re gorgeous.”
“Jesus.” Sidnie glares at her as I try not to laugh. “Your husband is standing right here. This is Liam.”
I shake hands with a guy around the same age as me, with a brown beard and kind blue eyes who looks unbothered that his wife has just complimented me in front of him.
“Hey, Mack,” he says, “good to meet you.”
“This is Julia,” Sidnie states, putting her hands on the shoulders of a young girl, maybe seven or eight years old.
“You’re an All Blacks fan,” I state, smiling at her rugby top.
“I got it for Christmas,” she says, and blushes.
Sidnie smiles. “And this is my brother, Dan.”
