Just for Now: Escape to New Zealand Book Three

by Rosalind James

  Chapter 6

  “Explain this loose forward thing to me,” Jenna told Sophie as they watched the telecast of the Blues’ game against the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday evening. “Why are they loose?”

  “We have to wait for a scrum,” Sophie said. “Then I’ll explain.”

  “OK,” she said a few minutes later. “The Brumbies just knocked on, and now our team gets a scrum. Look at how the forwards are lined up. The tight five, the first rowers and the ones just behind them, see how they’re hanging on to each other? That’s why they’re tight. The six and seven in the second row, they’re pushing too, but they’re at the edges. That’s why they’re loosies.”

  “I get it. And your dad’s at the back. He’s pushing too. But he’s not . . . attached. So he’s loose too.”

  “Right. He’s a forward, but he kind of works between the forwards and the backs. He works in the scrum and the ruck, and he jumps during the lineouts too. Because he’s so tall,” Sophie said proudly. “But he carries the ball as well. And he’ll help get it to the backs so they can run with it. Daddy has to be strong and fast. He has to understand the game plan too, and what the other team’s likely to do. He has to study heaps.”

  Sophie leaned forward as Finn delivered the ball and the group of backs began to run and pass, working toward the Brumbies try line. “Come on,” she urged. “Go.” She leaped up as the ball carrier went to the ground. “High tackle!” she shouted angrily. “Get him, Dad!”

  She was jumping up and down now in her excitement, and Harry looked up from the puzzle he was working on. Jenna watched in confusion as Finn waded through the ruck to grab a Brumbies player by the jersey, pull him roughly to his feet. She could see Finn’s mouth working as he held on, shoving the other man, pushing him back. Several other Blues pulled Finn off, held him as the trainer ran onto the field with his medical bag.

  “Wait, wait. What’s going on?” Jenna asked. She watched with relief as the injured player got up with the trainer’s help and walked to the sideline, and the referee held up a yellow card.

  “Sent off,” Sophie said with satisfaction as play resumed and Harry went back to his puzzle, unimpressed. “Did you see how that player wrapped his arm around Koti James’s neck when he tackled him? That’s a high tackle. It can be really dangerous. That’s why the ref sinbinned him.”

  “But what was your dad doing in there?” Jenna asked.

  “I told you,” Sophie replied matter-of-factly. “He’s the hard man.”

  “He fights?” Jenna asked, appalled.

  “Not fights,” Sophie clarified. “He didn’t punch him. Then he would’ve been sent off. But if somebody needs sorting, Daddy’ll do it.”

  “He doesn’t need to do that, surely,” Jenna protested. “That guy got sent off anyway. He got penalized for what he did.”

  Sophie looked at her pityingly. “The ref doesn’t always see. But Daddy always does.”

  “Oh. Wow,” Jenna said blankly. “Hard man. Got it.”

  “Wish we didn’t have to go back to school tomorrow,” Sophie sighed the next morning over breakfast. “This holidays was too short.”

  “Sounds like we’d better do something fun today, then,” Jenna said. “We’re not going to mope around all day thinking about it.”

  “Dad’s coming home from Aussie, though,” Sophie said dubiously.

  “Not till later this afternoon,” Jenna reminded her. “I know. We’ll go to Parakai Springs. I’ve been wanting to take you two there anyway. Today sounds like the perfect time.”

  “What’s that?” Harry asked.

  “A great big thermal pool,” Jenna explained. “Thermal means that the water’s heated by geothermal forces under the earth. The same kind of forces that produce volcanoes. What we saw in the museum, remember?”

  “Yeh. Because the lava comes up between the plates,” Harry said.

  “That’s it. You know how hot lava is, so you can see why it warms up the water. And it isn’t only warm water. They have water slides and a fountain, too, that you can play in. Your dad said that you two swim pretty well. I’d like to see that for myself.”

  “Isn’t it too cold for swimming?” Sophie wondered.

  “Nope. It’s just right. The warm water is going to feel so good. Go on and find your togs and jandals, and I’ll get some towels and snacks for us.”

  “What if Daddy comes home and we aren’t here, though?” Sophie worried again when she came back into the kitchen holding her swimming costume and flip-flops.

  “I’ve written him a note,” Jenna promised. “Telling him where we are, and that we’ll be back soon.”

  “Swim to me,” Jenna encouraged Harry as Sophie watched. “You’re doing great.”

  “Dad!” Sophie cried, launching herself through the water. Harry reached Jenna, looked up, and was hard on his sister’s heels.

  Jenna turned in surprise to see Finn wading across the pool, picking up a child in each arm along the way. Wow. That was the only word that came to mind. Despite their close quarters, she’d never seen him this closely without his shirt before. There was a lot of chest and shoulder there. A whole lot. He held both children easily, biceps and forearms bulging with their weight, thighs flexing beneath his swim trunks as he moved through the water. As he reached her, though, her attention shifted to the liberal pattern of bruises and scrapes showing clearly even through the light furring of hair on arms and chest.

  “Hi.” He set the kids down, watched them heading for the side of the pool and hopping out again. “Thought I’d join you. Bit cold for swimming, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe for you and me,” she agreed. “But the kids are moving around so much, they’re fine. They needed to get out, and I thought you’d be home later. Were you upset not to find us there when you got in?”

  “Nah. I got an earlier flight. No worries.”

  “Watch me, Dad!” Harry called from the top of a slide.

  “Watching,” Finn called back. He glanced at Jenna again. Looked away and cleared his throat. “Are you sure that costume is . . . right for you? For here, I mean.”

  “What?” Jenna stared at him in shock. Turned back hastily to check on the kids. “Sophie! Walk walk walk.” Even as she called out, she felt the slow burn starting.

  “Sorry I don’t look like Ashley,” she snapped as anger and humiliation warred for pride of place within her. She pushed the humiliation aside, focused on the anger. “This is how a real woman looks, one who actually eats and has a normal body type. You don’t have any right to criticize my costume, or my body. I don’t get paid enough to put up with that.”

  She moved away from him. “Come on, Harry. Show me your crawl. Swim to me.”

  “Hang on,” Finn protested. “That wasn’t what I meant.”

  “Did you see me, Dad?” Harry asked eagerly. “Were you watching me swim?”

  “Well done, mate,” Finn told him. “Can you swim back?”

  “Aw, geez. Did you think I was saying you were fat?” he asked Jenna as they watched Harry make his way back to the edge of the pool.

  “Of course I did. Because that’s exactly what you were saying.”

  “Nah. It wasn’t. Not at all.”

  “What, then?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him suspiciously.

  He gestured at her bikini top and the boy short-style bottoms. “It’s a bit sexy, isn’t it?”

  She looked down at herself. “This? Next to all these teenage girls in their tiny bikinis? I don’t think so. Nobody’s looking at me.”

  “You’re joking. It’s . . . the way you fill it out. You must know that. Look at that poor bloke.” He gestured in the direction of the teenage lifeguard. “Hope nobody drowns anytime soon, because he’s bloody useless, the way he’s staring at you. If he has to get down off that stand, he’s going to embarrass himself.”

  “Really?” She turned to look, gave the boy a wave, watched him turn hastily away. “Wow. Cool. Although actually, you know, he’s probab
ly a rugby fan, looking at you.”

  Finn laughed. “Trust me. He wasn’t looking at me. I don’t have what he likes. And you do. So much of it, too.”

  “Again, inappropriate. Not as bad as I originally thought,” she admitted. “But still. And I’m not going to wear some matronly one-piece with a skirt, just because you think I have too much . . .” She broke off.

  “Too much going on,” he said helpfully, trying hard not to stare at her breasts. “No, not too much,” he corrected. “Just . . . so much. You’re right, though. Stupid thing to say, and I shouldn’t be talking to you about it anyway. I never realized, that’s all. You wear your clothes so loose.”

  “I do? Are my clothes too big?”

  He smiled. “Well, yeh, a bit. Unless you really are trying to hide how you look.”

  “Thanks for telling me. I was heavier,” she said self-consciously. “I lost about fifteen kilos a year or two ago. And transformed my body some, I guess.”

  “All the running,” he guessed.

  “Yeah. And strength training too. But I’m not used to thinking I look OK. Buying this costume was a big step. I wasn’t sure. And then when you said . . .”

  “Sorry,” he said hastily. “But trust me, you look OK. More than OK.”

  “You, on the other hand, look battered,” she told him, eager to change the subject. “It did look like a tough game. Sorry you lost.”

  He grimaced. “Yeh, nah, we were pretty gutted. We weren’t the form team last night, that was clear. Couldn’t do the business in the end, even with that yellow card.”

  “I saw. Sophie explained the penalty to me, luckily, or I’d have been completely confused about what was going on. But do you always get that beat up? All those bruises?”

  “That’s the job, eh. My possie too. My position,” he explained. “Offense and defense. Tackling, and getting tackled. I hit the ground a fair few times in eighty minutes.”

  “Then you should go sit in the spa pool,” she suggested. “Soak some of that out. Wouldn’t that feel better than standing here in the cold air?”

  But the cold air was doing so much for her, he thought, keeping his eyes on her face with an effort. Quit perving, he scolded himself. Hard not to, though. When he’d first seen her with the kids, he’d been gobsmacked. The way her backside filled out those little purple shorts, their low rise showing off the curve of her hips. And when she’d turned around and he’d had a squiz at the front view, it had fair taken his breath away. Maybe she shouldn’t wear her clothes any tighter, he decided. Because he had to live in the same house with her. That was going to be a bit of a challenge, now that he had the full picture.

  “Why don’t we all go over there?” he asked. “You must be getting cold yourself.”

  “It’s probably time. Harry! Sophie!” she called. “Come on.”

  “Wow,” Harry breathed, watching from the spa pool as a teenaged boy dove from the higher of the pool’s two diving boards. “Cool.”

  “Would you like to be able to do that?” Jenna asked him. She was stretched out on the top step of the spa with Harry and Sophie while Finn sat further down, enjoying the warmth on his bruised body.

  He nodded vigorously. “It looks hard, though.”

  “Not really,” Jenna said. “You have to learn, of course, and then practice. Just like everything else. I could teach you, if you like.”

  “OK!” He jumped up.

  “Not right now,” she laughed. “But once it gets closer to summer, and more pools are open, we can work on swimming and diving some more.”

  “Book them in for more lessons, d’you reckon?” Finn asked lazily.

  “I can do it for now,” she told him. “I taught kids to swim and dive every summer during high school. You have me anyway, might as well take advantage of it.”

  He turned his head to look at her. That had been a bit provocative. She clearly hadn’t meant it that way, though. Pity.

  “Can I learn too?” Sophie asked.

  “Of course,” Jenna said. “You’re both pretty good swimmers already. By the time I leave, we’ll have you swimming like fish, and diving too.”

  “Do I have to dive off the high board?” Harry asked dubiously. “It’s a bit scary.”

  “Not if you don’t want to,” Jenna assured him. “We’ll do a little at a time. If you dive off the high board someday, that’ll be wonderful. And if you don’t, that’ll be just fine too.”

  “Can you do it?” Sophie asked.

  “Sure. I wouldn’t be much of a teacher if I didn’t know how, would I?”

  “Would you show us?” Harry begged, and Sophie immediately added her entreaty.

  “OK to leave them with you?” Jenna asked Finn.

  “Good as gold.”

  “OK, then. I haven’t done this in a couple years, but you know what they say. An elephant never forgets.” She winked at the kids, then stepped out of the hot pool and walked to the diving area.

  Not so much of an elephant, Finn thought, watching her sway across the pool deck in those tiny shorts. More of a . . . His mind blanked. What was a sexy animal? He couldn’t think of one. Except for Jenna. She was a sexy animal, and no mistake. He watched as she climbed to the higher board, walked to the end and looked down. Then turned back.

  “Isn’t she going to do it?” Sophie asked in disappointment.

  “Watch,” Finn commanded.

  Jenna ran to the end of the board, bounced once, sprang from her toes and dove off, executing a perfect jackknife in the air and hitting the water dead straight.

  “Yay!” Harry and Sophie applauded as Jenna approached them again, one hand going up to slick her wet hair back from her face.

  She laughed as she slid back into the warm water to join them. “That was great,” she said with a satisfied sigh. “I’d forgotten how much fun it was to do that.”

  “Very impressive,” Finn said approvingly. “Reckon you’ll be able to teach these two to dive, at that.”

  “Reckon I will,” she teased. She winked again, slid down to the next step and leaned back in the warm water.

  Crikey. This was turning out to be so much more than he’d bargained for.

  Chapter 7

  “And that’s another term begun,” Finn said the next morning as he came back into the kitchen after walking Sophie and Harry to school.

  “Much to Sophie’s disgust.” Jenna fixed herself a cup of tea, then picked up some papers from the computer desk set into one end of the kitchen bench and went to sit with him. “It’s interesting that she’s so unexcited about it, despite being such an avid reader.”

  “I was never keen either,” he admitted. “How about you?”

  “The opposite,” she said wryly. “School was the best part of my life. I spent summer vacation longing to get back. If they’d said I could go all year, believe me, I would have. I remember what a disappointment it was when I figured out that the teachers didn’t actually live at school. I think I was hoping to live there with them.”

  “Home life that good, eh.”

  She smiled. “Yup. But my loss is your gain. Because that’s why I’m so big on providing structure. Life’s hard enough. Kids need a calm, orderly place where they can recharge.”

  “Reckon everyone needs that, but they don’t always know how to do it. You make it look so easy.”

  “Well, to be fair, it’s a whole lot easier when there’s plenty of money to hire somebody like Nyree or me to help provide it, not to mention the housecleaners. If you were a single dad trying to do this on a limited budget, and on your own . . .”

  “Still. You are good at it. And I appreciate it.”

  “Thanks. And on that note, do you have a few minutes to go over the schedule for the next few weeks, before I leave for the day?”

  He nodded, and she pulled forward the calendar printout. All his games and the children’s activities were on there, he saw, as well as her own days off. He went through it with her, answered her questions about his travel s
chedule, watched her taking notes in her neat schoolteacher’s hand.

  “Any evenings you’re planning to be out, that you know of?” she asked, prepared to note them down.

  “None. No plans, anyway.”

  She shot him a glance, and he added, “Ashley and I broke up last week. After that dinner she cooked.” He chuckled. “Sounds wrong. Not because of the dinner. Though it didn’t help.”

  “Sounds like condolences aren’t in order.”

  “Nah. Mutual, I reckon. We weren’t suited after all. Turns out I wasn’t the glamorous international sportsman she was expecting. Story of my life. I’m a country boy, and a family man. Not too exciting for someone like Ashley. And she . . .” He stopped. “I didn’t share her values. Put it that way. And she didn’t share mine.”

  “Good to find that out sooner rather than later,” Jenna offered. “I’m glad you’re not hurting about it.”

  “Not hurting, trust me.”

  He sat for a minute, took a sip of tea. “Oh, about the swim lessons,” he remembered, “since we’re talking about schedules. Meant to tell you that I appreciate that, but you’re not obligated. If it’s too much, just book them in somewhere.”

  “I’d like to do it,” she assured him. “And I think it would be especially good for Harry. He isn’t as physically confident as Sophie, and I’d hate to see somebody pushing him too fast and scaring him. He actually swims very well for a five-year-old. I think it might be a sport he could get good at.”

  “He’s not very sporty, in case you haven’t noticed,” Finn said doubtfully.

  “Team sports, and spectator sports, you’re right. But sometimes kids like him enjoy individual sports much more. You don’t have to be aggressive as a swimmer. You don’t even have to compete, unless you want to.”

  “Unless you’re a water polo player,” he pointed out.