By Virtue, Falling by Robin Saxon

Author:Robin Saxon [Saxon, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Chapter 9

“DAD AND Huia invited us to lunch,” Tane told me in the morning.

I had barely shuffled out of bed, so I just stared at him and grunted in confusion. He replied with a chuckle, handing me a cup of coffee.

By the time I had finished half of it, I felt human enough to say, “Sorry, what?”

“Dad and Huia invited us for lunch,” Tane repeated patiently. “At Dad’s place.” From his tone, I couldn’t tell if he was happy or wary about the invitation. Maybe a bit of both.

“Oh, yeah, that’d be great,” I replied. I looked up at the clock on Tane’s wall to check the time. I’d somehow slept in till ten, which instantly made me feel guilty for wasting a few hours that otherwise could have been spent productively. “I’ll go get ready.”

Coffee cup in hand, I made my way back to the spare room. The bathroom was at the end of the hall, so I showered quickly, scraped off some of my stubble, and made sure my hair didn’t look like a bird’s nest. Once I’d done a passable job, I headed back into the kitchen, to be greeted with a kiss from Tane.

I nearly spilled my coffee, I was so distracted.

He pulled back, wrinkling his nose. “Coffee and toothpaste do not go together,” he teased, and I pulled him back in for another kiss. It was a much nicer alternative than talking.

“You sure it’s okay that I come along?” I finally said. Our noses were still touching, since I was loath to distance myself too far from him. What we had was so casual, yet so domestic, that it was the most comfortable I had ever felt in a relationship. There were no expectations, and there was no hurry.

“Hey, they invited you,” Tane pointed out.

“I just know that you don’t seem to have the best relationship with them.”

Tane smiled wryly. “It’s a long story. And honestly, it’s probably a bit stupid. Maybe you’ll get it after lunch.”

That sounded vaguely ominous, but I didn’t question him again, though I still wasn’t clear if he really wanted me to meet his family. Either way, he was right—they had indeed been the ones to invite me, and it would be rude to turn them down.

We drove back out to Porirua, heading toward the residential area this time. It was a nice suburb, as green as I’d come to expect in New Zealand. Tane pulled the ute to a stop in the street outside a single-story white house. He let himself in, and I found it very strange that nobody immediately noticed the sound and came to greet us.

The hallway led to the kitchen first, where Huia was cooking. She was staring at a boiling pot with narrowed eyes, as if she expected it to strike at any moment. When we entered, she barely looked up. “Dad’s in the living room,” she said.

“Ma’am,” I greeted. That made her look up at me.

“James,” she replied, cut-off and formal. “Tane, go say hi to Dad.

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