With his Trident Page 11

  She stared at her phone, willing it to ring, willing Tane to call to explain that it was all just a stupid misunderstanding and whatever-her-name-is, was crazy. She got up abruptly, ran up to her room and flung her clothes into her bag. She picked it up breathing hard and ran down the stairs and out of the house. The door slammed behind her and that reminded her to lock it with the key she was clutching unconsciously in her hand. Then she walked quickly toward the road, where she knew a bunch of taxis were usually waiting. Many of the houses on the street were rented out seasonally to out of towners and those folks were always in need of taxi services. She climbed gratefully into one, leaning back in relief. She needed to get out of this town.

  It was only when the pilot announced that any electronic devices should be switched off that she realized she’d left her phone sitting on the table in the Wilson’s kitchen on Park Street. She hit her head against the back of her seat in frustration.

  “Fudge!” she growled.

  ***

  Once class was over and Tane had had a nice lunch in the school cafeteria, his ire cooled enough for him to think about what he’d seen yesterday.

  ‘Maybe that guy was an old friend she bumped into, or a co-worker. It’s not like I know them all,’ he mused, biting the straw in his coke, ‘I should call her and find out.’

  He nodded resolutely to himself and finished his cheese burger then went off to his chemistry class. Normally chemistry was one of his favorite subjects. It was endlessly fascinating to him to see how elements combined to form something completely new. But today, he just could not get his mind to focus. He couldn’t wait for class to end so he could resolve this issue with Livy. It was so silly anyways. Why even were they fighting? Were they fighting? Livy hadn’t seen him when he saw her with that guy yesterday so she didn’t even know he was mad at her. He scoffed at himself, thinking derisively about his musings on being more grown up. Yet here he was, in a fight with someone who didn’t know they were in a fight.

  He glanced at his watch. Five minutes to time and never before in the history of time had it moved so slowly. Finally, it was four pm and he could leave…only, Sandra was waiting right outside the door for him.

  “Hey,” she said brightly.

  “Uh hey, what are you doing here?”

  She tilted her head, hitting him lightly on the arm like he was a silly boy, “We have a coffee date, remember?”

  “Oh. Was that like a date? I thought it was just like ten o’clock fuck my life, why am I awake sort of coffee…which I already had at ten o’clock.”

  Sandra laughed, hooking her arm into his, “You’re so funny,” she said, “Come on, I asked Lou to save us a seat.”

  Tane relaxed slightly realizing that the coffee was a group thing. And he had kind of agreed to go out with her. He could call Livy after, and coffee sounded great. He could use a pick me up.

  ***

  Coffee led to dinner and then a group study session and by the time he managed to shake Sandra and her gang it was pretty late. He still fished out his phone the moment he was in his apartment and called Livy.

  The phone rang and rang and rang before cutting off. When he tried again, it went straight to voicemail.

  “Maybe she’s asleep,” he said to himself. “Yeah, I’ll try again in the morning.”

  He yawned tiredly shedding his clothes and drawing himself a bath. He’d tried to hold his breath underwater to see if his gills would emerge but all he got was out of breath.

  “Maybe it only works in salt water,” he’d mused.

  Today he just wanted to soak in the tub, and relax. He put in some bath salts, lit some scented candles and put on some Marvin Gaye. He lay in the water, eyes closed but he could not quite relax.

  “This would be perfect if Livy was here,” he said aloud, almost startling himself. He thought about trying her again but restrained himself. He didn’t want her to wake up to 25 missed calls from him. That would just be embarrassing.

  He stayed in the water until his skin was as wrinkled as a prune then went to bed. He slept fitfully, startling awake now and then to check if it was morning yet. By the time morning came around he was exhausted. He got up, made himself brew some coffee and whip up some waffles before picking up his phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey Livy I-”

  “You’ve reached Liviana’s voicemail. Leave a message and I will get back to you.”

  Tane sighed in disappointment and hung up without leaving a message. What even could he say? He wished he’d thought to ask her what she was doing here. It clicked then, that there was someone else who might know.

  “Hey mom.”

  “Tane! This is a surprise, calling on a random Wednesday. Where’s the fire?”

  “Ha ha. Funny you should say that.”

  “Oh yeah? Why? Hit me.”

  “Uh well, Livy was here yesterday…”

  “Yes? And?”

  “So you knew?”

  “Of course I did. I’m the one who gave her the keys to your grandparents’ house.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Nikora sighed, “I take it your talk didn’t go well.”

  “Umm, I guess not. What er, what is she doing in town?”

  There was a pregnant pause.

  “Why don’t you ask her that?” his mother replied.

  “Yeah I will. Just as soon as I see her.”

  “You do that honey.”

  “Okay then, bye.”

  “Bye son.”

  He hung up, a feeling of dissatisfaction deep in his belly. So his mother knew why Livy was in town and by her reaction to him asking, he knew it was something to do with him. So she came all this way to see him and then…what? Just gave up because of some girl in his apartment? He grabbed his keys and wallet, leaving his coffee and waffles untouched and lit out of there. The uber he called was five minutes away and Tane could not stand still. He began walking in the direction of Park Street. The car could find him on the way. Luckily for him, the uber driver was the understanding sort and didn’t complain about it. He also got Tane to Park Street in record time for which he gave the driver five stars. He took the stairs to the mansion two at a time, before banging on the door and shouting for Livy to let him in. Nothing happened, nobody stirred. The place seemed empty. Had she left to go somewhere? He looked at his watch, seeing that it was just past 8am. It was unlikely that she had somewhere to be this early surely. He took out his bunch of keys sorting among them for the one that opened the front door. His grandparents had given him a copy of the keys to their house in his first year but this was the first time he’d ever used it. He had usually only come by when his grandparents were in residence.

  He opened the door, peering in cautiously lest Livy was just avoiding him rather than dead in the bathroom or passed out in the den. He walked in slowly, looking around for signs of her presence.

  “Livy?” he called as he stepped into the kitchen. There was a phone on the counter and he recognized it at once as hers. He walked in, picking it up and saw that it was out of charge.

  “Huh. Well that explains that,” he murmured to himself and looked for somewhere to charge it. There was a charging port on the wall and he plugged it in before taking his search to the living room and then climbing the stairs.

  Chapter Sixteen: Whisky Tango Foxtrot

  Livy decided that she wasn’t going to be a pining heroine, wasting away in misery for a lost love. No.

  She was stronger than that. She would go about her life and her business and put the thought of Tane aside. He wasn’t worth her tears.

  But that meant keeping away from any reminders of him, including his mother. It wasn’t easy since Mrs. Patariki was essentially her boss and knew where she worked. But the Fates seemed to be on her side because with the coming company AGM and various and sundry meetings, Nikora was too busy to seek Livy out that week. Her sister tried to bring him up during the Friday dinner but Li
vy cut her off at the pass. Gill was quick on the uptake and shut up after that, distracting her sister with stories of the near misses and office shenanigans of air traffic controllers. She kept her laughing the whole evening as they drank wine and watched cheesy comedies. No rom coms though, Livy was adamant. She was done with rom coms.

  “Jim Carrey to the rescue!” Gill shouted, putting in The Mask. She may have been a little more drunk than she realized because she was having trouble finding the right button to press on the remote.

  “Damn this Netflix” she growled and Livy laughed, leaning over to help her point and press. They lost time watching Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz interact on screen, laughing uproariously at their antics. In the middle of laughing though, Livy just began crying, tears pouring down her face as her body shook.

  “I-I s-s-said I wasn’t go-gonna c-c-c-cry,” she wailed wiping frantically at her eyes.

  “Oh Livy,” Gill said as tears started leaking from her eyes in sympathy. She enveloped her sister in her arms and they both cried themselves into exhaustion before falling asleep on the carpet.

  They woke up aching and sticky the next morning, moving slowly as they took turns in the shower and then made some breakfast in silence.

  They sat down, sipping their coffee and eating eggs and bacon, not really speaking except to ask each other to pass the salt or the coffee pot. Livy kept expecting Gill to bring it up. To ask what happened. She still didn’t feel ready to discuss any of it but didn’t know how to say so. But Gill surprised her by saying nothing. They finished breakfast, washed dishes and then sat back down, facing each other.

  “So you wanna go to the farmers’ market? I haven’t been in forever,” Gill said surprising Livy again. She raised her eyebrows but just said, “Er yeah, sure.”

  “Cool. Can I borrow your pink sweatshirt? This t-shirt is sticky.”

  “My wardrobe is your wardrobe.”

  Livy stood up, feeling so grateful to her sister she could cry. Clearly Gill understood without being told that Livy just wasn’t ready for heavy conversations. It filled her heart with thankfulness that she and her sister had the sort of relationship that did not need words.

  They linked arms as Livy closed her doors and walked slowly toward the market, enjoying the sun on their faces and being together.

  ***

  "So this was where you hide away nowadays?" Nikora said, walking toward Livy as they turned into the parking lot of the farmers’ market. Gill stopped to chat with a friend as Livy walked toward Nikora.

  "My, my, I didn't expect to see you here."

  "You didn't expect to see me at all, be honest. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been avoiding me this week."

  "I’ve been busy," Livy said softly.

  "You've been something," Nikora threw her hands up.

  "Just trying to live my life," Livy said, crouching by a row of seedlings, to take a closer look. "Even you must have one."

  "Yes I do and this week unfortunately it’s kept me from dealing with family drama. What happened in Honolulu?"

  Livy bowed her head even lower, hunching in on herself.

  "Would you mind very much if we don’t talk about it? Like at all?"

  "Do I have much choice?" she said gently.

  "Probably not," Livy smiled. She got up, brushing dirt from her jeans, though they're already covered in stains.

  She considered lying, as Livy walked up to her, but couldn’t. "I talked to Tane," she admitted finally.

  "Mrs. P…" Livy sighed shoulders drooping in defeat.

  "So you're trying your hand at fresh food shopping now?" Nikora interrupted, looking around the car park.

  "I'm no David Fairchild," Livy shrugged, "but I’ve been known to pick a good fruit once in a while."

  The farmer's market was in the parking lot of an organic bakery and people greet Nikora by name, so she probably went here regularly.

  Livy looped her hand through Nikora’s as Gill took a basket.

  "So, what have you been getting up to?" Livy asked.

  "Losing sleep and watching my hair turn grey with how badly you guys are fucking up," Nikora said. "How about you?"

  "Delighting in how badly we’re fucking up," Livy grinned.

  Nikora snorted. "Sounds like you."

  "And yet it seems like you're the one with the most disdain for us."

  "No reason for me to worry when you’ll both do exactly what you want, is there?" Nikora raised one eyebrow. Ahead of them Gill was inspecting plums, turning them over in her hand.

  "Easy for you to say. You’re already happily married," Livy started but Nikora cut her off.

  "Marriage is always work. What you guys are doing," she waved her hand generally, "has no purpose. It's destruction only for destruction's sake."

  "You two," Gill called. "Stop debating philosophy and help me decide which melon to buy."

  "Watermelon," Livy said, hooking her chin over Gill's shoulder.

  Nikora stood at her other side, still holding Livy's hand.

  "Honey melon," she shot back. They both look at Gill.

  "I have to say, I'm with Nikora on this one," she sighed.

  Livy made as if to bite at her neck and Gill shoves her away playfully.

  "My plant nursery is going great, by the way," she said. "Since you asked."

  "Gill," Nikora said, rolling her eyes with a fond smile. "How's your plant nursery going?"

  "It's going really great," Gill smiled. "I mean there’s not much space on my back porch but so far my hanging garden is thriving. I have the best tomato plants."

  "Sounds great. By the way I’m gonna need some to whip up some ragu," Livy said.

  They kept walking along the booths, checking out the products.

  "You know running away from your feelings never does any good," Nikora said, taking Livy’s hand to soften the blow. "You'll have to face them soon enough."

  Gill took Livy’s other hand.

  "Not yet," Gill said, looking around them wistfully. Livy was just grateful for this respite where she felt somewhat at peace. "You've still got time."

  But Nikora saw in her eyes that she knew time was running out.

  They came to the bakery then, a bell chiming above their heads as Livy pushed the door open.

  "Nikora, dear," the elderly woman at the register smiled.

  "Good morning," Nikora smiled back. "I'll have three croissants, please."

  "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. We're all out."

  "Are you sure?" Gill cut in. "Looks like you just put a tray in."

  "N–" the oven dinged and the smell of freshly baked croissants filled the room. "Huh," the woman frowned. "I must've forgotten. Three croissants it is, my dear," she said to Nikora, handing her a paper bag.

  "Thank you," Nikora smiled, but as soon as she turned around the smile falls from her face and she's scowling at Gill.

  "What?" Gill asked.

  "Don't do that," Nikora hissed.

  Gill raised her eyebrows.

  "I don’t understand," Gill said.

  "Ms. Lavine has been running this place for many years. She’s getting on in years now and maybe the Alzheimer’s’ is getting worse but we don’t remind her of it," Nikora whispered. It wasn’t like Gill to be so purposefully blind. Then again, maybe it was. She's always been the most stubborn of the bunch.

  "Girls," Livy soothed, stepping between them. "It's done now, no use in arguing over it."

  "Well," Gill huffed, "We weren’t really fighting."

  "Yes but voices were rising," Livy grinned. "Now c'mon, let’s go home," she waved at Nikora, “It was nice seeing you Mrs. P.”

  “Where do you think you’re going? We need to sit down, coffee, pow wow.”

  “Do we really?”

  “Yes. We do.”

  Livy sighed, exchanging a glance with Gill, “My place?” Gill asked.

  “Yes.” Livy replied.

  “Coo
l,” Nikora agreed.

  They all got in Nikora’s car and drove to Gill’s place.

  ***

  “I don’t want to discuss Tane,” Livy declared as soon as they arrived.

  “Cool.” Gill declared, “Everything’s not about you Livy. Maybe we just want to eat croissants.”

  “Maybe we do. But I just thought I’d put it out there.”

  They drank hot chocolate and ate croissants in relative silence.

  “Soo have you heard from him?” Livy asked Nikora who smiled, putting her mug down.

  “As a matter of fact, I did.” She said.

  “Oh? And what did he say?” Livy leaned toward her as Gill and Nikora exchanged sardonic glances.

  “Not much. He wanted to know what you were doing in Honolulu.”

  “When was that?” Livy asked abandoning all pretense at disinterest.

  “Wednesday,” Nikora said taking another sip of her drink.

  Livy waited for her to elaborate but she just took a bite of her croissant and chewed slowly.

  “And? What did he say exactly? Did he ask to see me?”

  “Um, no. he just asked what you were doing in Honolulu and then we kind of hung up.”

  Livy sat back staring at her in disbelief.

  “That’s it?”

  “Oh and he was interested to know where you were staying.”

  Livy’s eyes narrowed, “He asked you where I was staying on Wednesday?”

  Nikora looked up, cup paused on its way to her mouth, eyebrow raised, “Yes?”

  “That’s…weird.”

  Nikora put her cup down, “Why is it weird?”

  “Because his fiancée texted me from his phone the day before.”

  “Fiancée?!? Have you lost your mind?”

  “You didn’t know?” Livy asked all faux casual.

  “Know about a fiancée? Definitely not.”

  “Soo, what does that mean? He hasn’t brought her home yet?”

  Nikora stood up from her stool and came to stand next to Livy, “Honey, the only woman Tane has ever spoken to me about is you.”

  Livy stared up at her, “But…his fiancée…”

  “Who is this woman and why do you keep calling her that?”