“We like lots of things,” Sophie told her. “But on school days, it’s usually Weet-Bix.”
“We’ll try something special on Saturday, then,” Jenna decided. “What about you, Finn?”
“You don’t have to fix mine if you don’t have time,” he said. “I have as much as I can manage to make.”
“Eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, tomatoes,” she guessed. “And maybe sausage as well.”
“If I can get all that,” he agreed. “But otherwise, just eggs and toast.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” she smiled. “And what you have in the fridge just now. I’ll go to the store tomorrow.”
“I’ll shift money into your account for groceries and gas,” he promised. “You can keep track, and tell me how we’re going, if you need more. That work for you?”
“It does. I’ll save the receipts and give you an accounting at the end of every week.”
“Very businesslike.”
“That’s the best way,” she told him. “In our situation.”
Barbie and Cricket
“Sure you’re comfortable being alone with the kids again tonight?” Finn asked, coming into the kitchen where Jenna was preparing dinner on Sunday afternoon. “I may be out pretty late. I’ll have my mobile, of course.”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him. “We’re good, got the routine down. I’ll get them to bed on time, as they were up late last night watching you. Check with them too, though, if you like. See how they feel about it.”
He snorted. “Yeh, right. All I’ve heard lately is ‘Jenna says.’ Starting to give me a bit of a complex.”
“Don’t worry. They’re crazy about you. Nobody’s going to be taking over that spot in their hearts.”
The doorbell rang when Jenna and the kids were in the middle of a Balloon Lagoon game. She’d bought the board game the day before, and the kids had been clamoring to play it ever since, with the wet weather keeping them indoors.
“Two frogs in!” Harry announced proudly as the carousel music ceased. He worked carefully to stuff two balloons into his basket.
“Good work, buddy,” Jenna told him.
“My turn!” Sophie was already reaching for the carousel to spin it.
“Hang on,” Jenna admonished. “Your dad’s guest is here. Let’s say hello.” She got up from the floor where they’d been sitting to greet Finn’s date, stunning in a deep blue wrap dress whose neckline dipped in a low V, the short skirt showing off long, shapely legs. As the blonde looked her over coolly at Finn’s introduction, Jenna wished she were wearing something more flattering than a T-shirt and jeans. Too bad the humidity had made her hair curl up again, too.
“I recognize you, don’t I?” she asked Ashley. “Aren’t you a presenter on TV3?”
“I am,” Ashley answered, becoming a bit more animated. “That’s how Finn and I met. I was doing interviews when the All Black training squad was first named, talking to some of the new caps as well as the veterans. And, well … ” She shrugged modestly, put a proprietary arm through Finn’s and smiled up at him warmly.
“Ashley came by before we went to dinner tonight because she has something for you,” Finn told Sophie and Harry, already dressed for bed in warm pajamas.
“That’s right!” Ashley said in a too-bright, syrupy voice that set Jenna’s teeth on edge.
Some people didn’t know how to talk to children, she reminded herself. No need to be judgmental.
“I brought you each a pressie,” Ashley said, handing each child a gaily wrapped parcel. “Go on and open them,” she urged. “I know it’s hard to wait.”
“Oh.” Sophie finished ripping off the paper and looked at the Barbie Fashionista doll, complete with necklace and flower-bedecked purse, in its plastic box.
“She’s poseable, see?” Ashley told her, pointing out the jointed limbs. “And look, here are more outfits for her too. Won’t that be fun, to dress her up?”
“What do you say, Sophie?” Jenna prompted.
Sophie looked up, pasted a too-polite smile onto her face. “Thank you, Ashley. She’s very pretty.”
“What did you get, Harry?” Jenna asked, anxious to shift the attention from Sophie’s less-than-genuine response.
“A cricket ball,” he said, holding it out to her.
“Lovely,” Jenna approved. She gave Harry a gentle nudge.
He blinked behind his glasses and said, “Thank you very much, Ashley.”
“I thought you could probably use another cricket ball,” Ashley told him. “My brothers were always losing them.”
“That was very kind of you,” Finn said, looking a bit embarrassed. “We’d better get on now, though. I booked a table for eight.”
He bent to give his children a good-bye kiss. “All right?” he asked Jenna.
“Of course,” she assured him. “We’re playing a bit more, then off to bed. Have a nice dinner, both of you. It was a pleasure to meet you,” she told Ashley.
The slender blonde smiled, but there was little warmth now in the blue eyes that looked back at Jenna. “Likewise.” She took Finn’s arm again and left the room with him, tanned legs making a spectacular show in the high heels.
As she heard the front door close behind the pair, Jenna turned back to Sophie and Harry. “Pick up the wrapping paper and throw it away, please. Then take your presents into your rooms, unless you want to play with your doll instead of doing our game, Sophie.”
“I don’t want to play with this,” Sophie told her, gathering up the wrapping paper and setting the doll and clothes onto the coffee table. “I don’t like Barbie.”
“I noticed you didn’t have many dolls,” Jenna said.
“Except Martha,” Sophie reminded her, referring to the baby doll who held pride of place on her dresser. “But Martha’s different. She’s like a real baby. I don’t play with her much anymore. I’m too old now. But I still like to look at her and change her clothes sometimes.”
“Not interested in changing Barbie’s clothes, huh?” Jenna asked sympathetically.
Sophie shook her head. “Barbie’s boring. All she does is go shopping and get dressed.”
“Jenna?” Harry tugged at her hand, having deposited his wrapping paper in the kitchen rubbish. “I don’t like cricket. Do I have to play with this?”
She laughed. “Poor Ashley. I guess she doesn’t know you two very well, huh?”
“She’s talked to us heaps,” Sophie countered. “But I don’t think she really listens. She just wants Daddy to think she likes us.”
“It was still nice of her to bring you presents,” Jenna admonished.
“Nah, it wasn’t,” Sophie insisted. “Ladies always bring us pressies. They do it so Daddy will like them.”
“What?”
“They want him to kiss them,” Harry explained. “Ladies like kissing. But they never discuss like you do. They just smile like this”—he stretched his mouth into a horrible grimace—“and ask us if we like school.”
“Lame as,” Sophie offered.
“That’s not very kind,” Jenna admonished her. “And Harry, I hope they don’t look like that. That would be pretty shocking. If you don’t want these presents, we’ll take them to the hospital Op Shop next week and donate them, how’s that? That way, kids who do love Barbie and cricket, but can’t afford nice things like this, can have something brand-new.”
“OK,” Sophie agreed, and Harry nodded.
“Now,” Jenna said, “let’s get back to our game. We can manage a few more turns before bedtime.”
* * *
She looked up, startled, when she heard the front door open, closed her book, and was getting up to leave the lounge when Finn stepped in.
“Sorry,” she told him. “I thought you’d be home later. I’ll go on to my room.”
“Nah.” He sank into one of the big leather chairs with a sigh. “Stay out here and talk to me for a bit. Is there any of that cake left?”
“You saw that, huh?” She smiled. “Plenty left. Want
me to get you a piece?”
He shook his head. “I’ll get it. D’you want one?”
“No thanks. I don’t eat that stuff anymore. My glass of wine is my treat.”
He nodded and left the room, coming back a few minutes later with a huge slab of chocolate cake and a tall glass of milk.
“Breakfast of champions,” she remarked.
He laughed. “They don’t feed you enough at those flash restaurants Ashley likes. I’m starved.”
He took a bite, then opened his eyes wide. “This is bloody marvelous.”
“Thanks,” she said with pleasure. “American style. I like to remind myself of my roots sometimes.”
“Going to have to watch my figure,” he said.
“Seems to me you burn a lot of calories,” she objected. “It must be hard to keep the kilos on, in fact, training as hard as you do.”
“I try to keep the weight consistent, not gain during the time off, not lose during the season. Too hard on the body otherwise, easier to get injured if you’re unfit starting out. But you’re right, it takes a lot of eating, specially for an AB.”
“An All Black?”
“Yeh. Long season,” he explained, stretching his legs out in front of him and taking another bite. “They break up the Super 15 season for these three test matches we’ve just finished up against England, then it’s back for three more rounds and, hopefully, the Super 15 playoffs. And then on to the Rugby Championship with the ABs again. Not to mention the Northern Tour. All the way from January till early December, without much layoff in there.”
He shrugged, dug into the cake again. “Have to stay fit to make it all the way through, specially at my age. Loads of protein. And the occasional chocolate cake doesn’t go amiss either.”
“Anything special you want, just ask,” she assured him.
“Can you cook salmon? I had it at Kermadec tonight, and it was pretty good. But such a mingy wee bit, just left me wanting more.”
“Of course I can. I’ll get some from the fish market tomorrow,” she promised. “Enough so you can eat as much as you like. I have a good way to cook it. You sear it, and serve it with a glaze of balsamic vinegar, honey, and orange juice. Pretty tasty. If you really want it two days in a row.”
“I would. Sounds delicious. Not sure how much the kids like salmon, though.”
“Plenty of leftovers from tonight, since you weren’t here,” she said. “They can have those if they’d rather.”
“Cheers for that. Anyway. What are you reading?” He glanced at the book she’d laid on the couch next to her.
“Guilty pleasure. Jane Eyre.” She showed him the cover. “One of the few books I haul around with me.”
“Not much of a guilty pleasure.” He looked her over. “Pretty tame evening, I’d say.”
“Glass of wine, Jane Eyre, in my dressing gown,” she agreed. “That’s about the size of it.”
“May have been more entertaining than mine, at that,” he told her, starting to laugh. “Couldn’t quite get over those naff pressies.”
Jenna couldn’t resist a chuckle of her own. “I thought the kids did all right, after the initial shock. But yeah, she couldn’t have chosen much worse. Poor Ashley. She must not know them very well.”
“I’ve talked to her about them, though,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m sure I’ve told her that Harry doesn’t care for sport, and Sophie does.”
“Adults without kids can make assumptions,” she said. “Sometimes even adults with kids. They tend to think that kids will like whatever they themselves liked when they were young. They don’t realize that children are individuals, just as much as adults are.”
“You realize it, though. And you don’t have any.”
Jenna flushed, felt the familiar stab of pain. “No. But I’ve been a teacher for six years. When you have a classroom full of five-year-olds, believe me, you understand pretty quickly that they’re all different. You can say, for example, that boys in general are more active and noisier. But even there, you’re just generalizing. Look at Harry and Sophie. Harry doesn’t care about sport, and Sophie loves it. When we watched your game last night, Sophie was explaining the penalties and the tactics to me. I hate to tell you, but Harry was back to looking at the new dinosaur book we got from the library well before the break.”
He smiled. “My son isn’t my biggest fan.”
“You’re wrong,” she corrected gently. “He is your biggest fan. One of the two, anyway. Just not your biggest rugby fan. That would be Sophie.”
“Why do you like kids so much, though, and understand them so well?” he asked her. “Even before you took this job, you’d got to know the kids. Why? It wasn’t to meet me. I’ve been put right on that. And most people don’t pay any attention to other people’s kids.”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged, a little embarrassed. “I like kids better than adults, to tell you the truth. I relate to them better, I suppose. Kids are honest. You know what they’re really thinking. They’re going to tell you the truth.”
He looked at her more sharply. “As opposed to who? Your ex-husband?”
“What? Why do you think I was married?”
“Pretty obvious. You listed another name on your CV. You either got married since you stopped teaching, which doesn’t seem likely, or you were married before. He lied, eh.”
“Yeah. But hey, if we’re going to tell sad marriage stories, we could be here all night. And it’s past my bedtime.” She stood and picked up her empty wine glass, gathered up his dishes. “See you in the morning.”
He watched her go, sorry he’d brought it up. That had cleared the room in a hurry. Pity. Chatting with her had been the most fun he’d had all evening.
Wombat Bottom
“Wanted to tell you, you can start your time off earlier than I originally said, this week,” Finn said over a late breakfast the following Saturday.
“Oh?” Jenna turned from the stove to slide another tall stack of pancakes onto his plate. Good thing she’d doubled the recipe. She averted her eyes to avoid a closeup view of the line of stitches along his eyebrow and the bruise that had formed around them. “When do you mean?”
“Ashley’s coming by to cook dinner tonight,” he told her, pouring syrup liberally over the multigrain pancakes and topping the stack with a heaping spoonful of chopped oranges and kiwifruit and a dollop of vanilla yoghurt. “So you’re free to go out.”
“What will we do?” Sophie asked. “Do we get to go with Jenna?”
“Nah,” he frowned at her. “That’s the point, eh. Ashley wants to make dinner for all of us.”
“Jenna too?” Harry piped up.
“No,” Jenna put in, as she saw Finn looking uncomfortable. “Just you two and your dad. That’s nice of her, isn’t it? It’s nice for me too. I’ll get to go out on Saturday night. Do you need another pancake, Sophie? And Finn, want another egg or two to go with those?”
“No, thanks,” Sophie said. Finn nodded, though, and Jenna cracked a final three eggs onto the griddle together with her own pancakes.
“What time does this cooking extravaganza begin?” she asked. “So I can make sure everything’s ready. Does she need anything special? Groceries?”
“No groceries. She’s bringing them. And she said five. But you don’t have to leave straight away,” he hastened to assure her.
Jenna laughed. “Somehow, I think Ashley’d prefer it, though. That’s fine. Do you need an icepack for your face, while I’m up?”
“Thanks.”
“Daddy, I thought that was a deliberate sprig,” Sophie said with concern as Finn put the cold pack to his eye, continuing to eat bacon and pancakes with the other hand. “Why wasn’t Nick Holmes sent off?”
“What’s a sprig?” Jenna asked curiously, serving Finn his final eggs and bringing over her own plate of breakfast.
“Aw, got to expect a few sprig marks now and then at the bottom of the ruck,” Finn shrugged. “No worries. And the sprigs are the
spikes in rugby boots,” he explained to Jenna. “My protective daughter thinks Nick sprigged me deliberately last night.”
“I still think he did,” Sophie argued.
“If the refs started citing us all for a bit of carelessness with our boots, I’d be in as much trouble as anyone,” he told her. “Got to have a bit of mongrel in your game when you’re a loosie. Sorry, darling.”
“You’re not a dirty player, Dad,” Sophie said, shocked. “You’re a hard man. That’s different.”
He smiled. “Reckon that depends on who you talk to. But I hope not.”
“What’s a loosie?” Jenna asked. “Sophie, Harry, if you’re finished, please put your dishes in the dishwasher.”
“Loose forward. Six, seven, eight,” he explained.
“You’re eight, I know that,” Jenna said. “Have you always played that position?”
“Yeh,” Sophie broke in. “Dad’s been the best No. 8 in New Zealand for ages. Loads of people think he’s the best in the world,” she announced proudly. “That’s why he’s always selected for the All Blacks, since before I was born.”
“Aw, you’ll make me blush,” Finn told her, reaching over to pull her close to him and give her a kiss. “Some of the young boys are nipping at my heels now. Hoping to hang onto that starting spot for another couple years, though. One more World Cup, anyway, next year. It’d be choice to repeat as world champions. Specially since nobody’s done it yet.”
“Nobody’s won two in a row?” Jenna asked in surprise.
He looked at her, amused. “You didn’t happen to hear that, last time around? It was only three years ago, and I know you were here then. You may recall that we won. It made a wee bit of a splash at the time.”
“Sorry. My rugby indoctrination’s been minimal. My hu— My friends were never interested in rugby, and it barely exists in the U.S. Good thing I have Sophie to educate me now.” Jenna smiled affectionately at the little girl as she got up to clear her plate and Finn’s own, moved to the sink to start the dishes.
“I’ll help you, Jenna.” Harry picked up the syrup carefully and brought it to the kitchen island.
Christmas Down Under: Six Sexy New Zealand & Australian Christmas Romances Page 55