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The next day, Saturday the thirteenth of January, I wake up annoyed with myself for giving in to alcohol last night. I swim and work out for a while, trying to make up for it, eat a healthy breakfast of muesli and fresh fruit, then get in the BMW and head off to James’s again.
Today the guys are coming around and we’re working on the presentation for the conference together. The girls—Missie, Gaby, Aroha, and Juliette—are going shopping together, partly in an attempt, I think, to cheer themselves up after the difficult day yesterday.
When I arrive, Alex and Missie are already there, and I join Alex and James at the dining table and set up my laptop. Gaby and Tyson arrive soon after, and the guys are just settling down and the girls are getting Leia ready to leave when Juliette turns up.
It’s a warm summer’s day today, and she’s wearing a light-blue tee and a pair of denim shorts. Her legs are long, brown, shapely, and smooth. She’s pinned her hair up in a bun, and she has only the lightest of makeup on today. She looks about five years younger, and absolutely gorgeous, and she makes my heart ache.
“Hey,” she says to the room in general. She meets my eyes and flicks me a smile, but she doesn’t approach me. “Ready, gang?” she asks the girls.
“Yep, good to go,” Aroha replies, picking up Leia in her carry seat, and with cheery goodbyes they all head for the door and go out. The door closes behind them, and there’s a few seconds of silence in the room.
Then Tyson blows out a breath. “Right. Beer and PlayStation, guys?”
We all laugh and take a chair at the dining table. We might well have a play later, but we’re not eighteen anymore, and we all want to get the work done first.
“First of all,” Alex says, “James, we want to put forward the idea of Henry going to Sydney with Tyson next weekend. You’ve had a tough time and we thought you might need some time off.”
James looks at me. “You wouldn’t mind?”
I shake my head. I’m not as natural a public speaker as James, but I’m not bad, and Tyson and I work well together. “Not at all.”
“Then that would be great, thank you. I could do with a rest.”
“Right,” Alex says. “That’s settled. Let’s get stuck in.”
We work until one, then make ourselves some sandwiches and sit out on the deck with a can of Coke Zero. And it’s then that James reveals that he’s asked Aroha to marry him, ostensibly to secure Leia and make sure her lowlife birth father doesn’t get his hands on her, and he announces he’s paying her a million dollars to do it.
I’d seen him kiss her at the funeral, so I’d assumed he was developing feelings for her, but he’s now implying it was all a ruse. Shocked at his idiocy, I say, “You do realize what an insult that was?”
He frowns. “The money, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? I couldn’t just ask her to marry me for nothing, could I? It’s a two-year commitment, minimum.”
“You fucking idiot.”
James stares at me, obviously baffled, and says, “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Alex replies. “It’ll all come out in the wash.” He winks at me. Oh… He thinks James likes Aroha. Ah, that puts a different perspective on it.
We joke with James about the Droit du seigneur, which is the right of the lord to have sex with any female subject, especially on their wedding night, and he bears it in good humor. But as the conversation moves on, I wonder whether Alex is right.
I was the first of our group of friends to get married. Now they’re all following in my footsteps—Tyson got married last year, Damon at Christmas, Alex is sure to propose to Missie soon, and now James—the eternal bachelor—looks as if he might be settling down.
Hopefully they won’t all follow me out of the exit.
Lost in thought, I only half hear James tell Alex to follow him to his office to get something, and when I look around, I discover myself alone with Tyson, who’s sipping his Coke, looking out at the garden, although he glances over and smiles as he sees me looking at him.
I have nothing but admiration for him. Confined to a wheelchair at twenty-two, he could easily have given into depression and resentment at his bad luck. And he was low for a while, there’s no doubt about it. But Gaby stuck by his side, and the rest of us were determined to help him walk again. Once we discussed the idea of the exoskeleton and the creation of Kia Kaha, he never looked back. He did his physio, never missing a day, and worked his butt off, determined to stand next to Gaby at the altar, which he did last year, bringing a tear to every eye at the wedding.
He walks somewhat stiffly, and occasionally uses a cane if he’s having a bad day, but it never seems to faze him. He’s a good-natured guy.
“You’re sure about Sydney?” he asks.
“Yeah, of course. It’ll be fun.”
