29

I was nervous about meeting Jake’s parents, but I didn’t want to show it, for Zac’s sake, because he’d been tapping his fingers against the dashboard nervously the whole way there.

“Will she like her present?” he asked, sounding almost panicked.

“I’m sure,” I replied calmly.

“How do you know?”

“Well, I asked Jake what she liked and he said making jewelry, so I think she’ll love it.”

“Do you think she will like the beads I chose? They are blue. Blue is the best color. Even though it’s normally not for girls. They like pink, but I don’t like pink.”

“I’m sure she will love the blue.” We’d been to a craft store earlier that day to buy Lisa a present, and then I’d painted her a card and Zac had written in it.

“Did you bring my water bottle?” He fiddled with his seat belt now.

“Yes.”

“Did you bring my binoculars?” he asked.

“I did.”

“Did you know Dad is getting married?” he asked. I whipped around in my seat and stared at him.

“How do you know?”

“I heard Mom saying it on the phone, ‘Can you believe it, Sue. He’s actually marrying that woman. He’s actually marrying that homewrecking bitch.’”

“Whoa!” I held my hand up.

“That’s what Mom said!”

“I know. I know. But remember, that’s a bad word and you can’t say it in front of people.”

“Like I’m not allowed to say crap?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Why can’t I say bitch?” he asked again.

“Because it’s considered offensive.”

“A bitch is a female dog.”

“I know. But it can also mean something else. And the other thing is a bad word.”

He was quiet and thoughtful for a while before speaking again. “I don’t think they should allow words to mean two things, it’s too confusing.”

I smiled at him. “You’re right. There should be a rule about that.”

“There should.”

I looked at him for a while as he shuffled in his seat. “So, how do you feel about Dad marrying Maddy?” I asked.

He shrugged. I think this complicated emotional concept was probably beyond his grasp, but I felt like I needed to ask it anyway.

“He doesn’t love Mom anymore,” he stated matter of factly.

“Well, not in that way.”

“What way?”

“He doesn’t love her in a romantic way anymore,” I explained.

“How many ways can you love someone?” he asked.

“A lot. Romantically, or in a friendship way, a brother-sister way, like I love you, or the way you love Miss Hiss,” I explained. There was a pause and he looked out the window thoughtfully.

And then he spoke and my heart felt like it wanted to explode. “I love Lisa. She’s my best friend.”

I reached out and was just about to put my hand on his shoulder but pulled away. “It’s good to have a best friend,” I said as we pulled up to Jake’s house.

“Do you love Jake?”

“Wh-what? No . . . what? No.” I spluttered. Hearing those words out loud made me feel all strange and tingly. “Pfft! Nooooo!”

“So, he’s not your friend, then?” he asked.

“Uh . . .” I was stumped by my blunt brother. “It’s complicated.”

“How?” he pressed.

“It just is.”

“How?” He kept going.

“It’s more complicated when you’re older.”

“How does being older make it more complicated?” He just wasn’t letting this go, and I knew I needed to end it now, or else these questions would follow us into Jake’s house.

“Hey, did you see there’s a new documentary about the universe on Netflix? We should watch it tonight!” I jumped out of the car, hoping to change the subject.

“Really? What about the universe? Because if it’s about nebulae, I don’t need to watch it. I already know everything about nebulae.”

“I’m not sure. We’ll have to find out. Come, let’s go!”

“But if it’s about black holes, that would be cool. Did you know that gravity in a black hole is so strong that it sucks everything in?”

I tried to hide my smile. My distraction had worked.

Jake’s house was farther up the hill, not close to the sea like ours, and unlike my house and Vuyo’s house, it wasn’t modern at all. Instead, it had a quaint beach cottage vibe to it, and I liked it instantly. I preferred houses like this that had character, or had something about them that made them unique and interesting, but not in the way that ours was “interesting.”

I straightened my black dress, looked down at my gold Adidas sneakers, and then rang the doorbell. My heart beat a little faster in anticipation of seeing him. But it wasn’t him who answered the door.

“Hi, you must be Lori, and this must be the Zac. We’ve heard so much about you,” said a gorgeous woman with blue eyes like Jake’s. “I’m Judy.”

“Hi, Judy. Lori,” I said anxiously.

“Come in.” She held the door open for us.

“Come in, come in,” Zac repeated.

“He’s a little nervous,” I whispered to her.

She smiled and whispered back. “It’s okay.”

“Zaaaac!” Lisa skidded up, shouting.

Zac put his hands over his ears and Lisa came to an abrupt halt.

“Sorry,” she whispered with her finger over her lips. “Let’s whisper. Shhhhh! Let’s whisper.”

Zac took his hands off his ears; he seemed satisfied with this solution.

“I’m going to watch a documentary about the universe tonight with my sister,” he whispered back to her. “I hope it’s about black holes and not nebulae.”

“I want to show you my room!” Lisa said excitedly.

“Here!” Zac pulled her present out and thrust it toward her with little finesse.

“That’s so sweet, you shouldn’t have,” Judy said to me.

“I want to show you my bedroom,” Lisa stated again, and this time Zac looked up at me for reassurance.

“It’s okay. I’ll be right here.”

“Can I have my water bottle?” He held his hand up and I passed it to him. And with that, he and Lisa were off down the passage. I stared after them.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.” I felt a sudden reassuring hand on my shoulder.

I smiled. “Oh, here’s her card, I almost forgot.” I handed Lisa’s birthday card over and Judy studied it carefully.

“This is beautiful. Where did you buy it?”

“I painted it. They’re succulents.” I blushed slightly.

“You painted this? It’s incredible.”

“Lori is an amazing artist.” I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Jake as he walked around the corner. I tried not to beam at him stupidly.

You do luuurve him. Great, the voice in my head was back.

“I’m kind of good, I guess,” I stumbled.

“Kind of good?” Jake said. “That’s an understatement.”

“Well . . . thanks.” I felt coy. I felt flutterings. I felt all sorts of things that I hoped Judy and Jake didn’t see.

“Hi, there, I’m Mike.” Jake’s dad appeared and held his hand out for me to shake.

“Hi. Lori.” This was all so peculiar and I felt completely out of my depth here. I’d never met a guy’s parents before, and I felt strange and nervous and . . .

“Sorry, do you mind if I use the bathroom?” I suddenly blurted without even realizing I was going to say that.

“Let me show you where it is.” Judy walked me to the guest bathroom and I quickly went in and pulled my phone out.

WhatsApp Group: How You Doin’???

LORI: Guess where I am?

ANDILE: Where?

LORI: In Jake’s house. In his guest bathroom to be more specific

ANDILE: Are you hiding?

LORI: Yes, sort of

LORI: I’m meeting his parents and I feel like a total blithering dorky dork

GUY: Oooh, meeting the parents. This must be serious

Of course I’d filled the guys in on everything that had happened between Jake and me so far. Broke down every moment as if doing a postmortem. I typed quickly.

LORI: It’s not like that. He invited Zac around because it’s his sister’s birthday

GUY: Are you sure that’s the only reason?

LORI: YES! Stop making more of this. We’re just friends because our siblings hang out

ANDILE: Friends . . . and you’re hiding in his toilet messaging us? Because that’s what you do when you’re JUST friends with someone

LORI: I don’t know how to act in front of his parents. I feel like I’m being a weirdo

ANDILE: Just be yourself!

GUY: Totally

GUY: Besides, you are a little weird anyway

LORI: I don’t want to be weird. I want to be normal

ANDILE: BOOORING

LORI: Crap! This is so

LORI: I gotta go

GUY: And you gotta stop messaging us from inside bathrooms!

ANDILE: Don’t hide for too long, you wouldn’t want them to think you are taking a giant dump!

LORI: OMG, not again

GUY: Wait, what do you mean not again?

LORI: Never mind. Long story

GUY: We’ve got time

LORI: I don’t. Gotta run

LORI: Bye

I exited the bathroom and followed the sounds of chatter. Mike, Judy, and Jake were standing in the living room, which had been decorated with pink balloons and streamers. On the table stood a large chocolate cake with a mermaid on top of it, as well as a bowl of chips and some candy. Judy smiled at me again; she had a smile like Jake’s—big and open, and with the ability to set you at ease. “Thanks so much for coming this evening.”

“It’s a pleasure.”

“Lisa hasn’t stopped talking about Zac since he arrived at school, and Jake’s told us all about you too,” she said.

At that, I stiffened, trying to ignore the last part of her statement in case I went a bright, fire engine red. “It’s really nice that Zac’s found someone to play with,” I said.

“And it’s nice that Jake’s found someone his age to talk to too,” she added quickly.

“It’s nice,” I said softly. The word nice suddenly sounded wrong. Like when you say any word too many times in a row, it stops sounding like English.

“Should we call them in to cut the cake?” she asked.

I nodded and almost said “nice” again, but stopped myself. “Mmm-hmm,” I mumbled instead, which was probably just as bad as saying “nice.”

I glanced at the cake reticently. Zac hated brown food the most. Said it reminded him of poop.

“Oh, wait.” Jake raced off to the kitchen and came back moments later holding a vanilla cupcake in his hands. “We got this for Zac.”

“Oh my gosh . . . that’s so kind of you guys. Really, that’s so…” I couldn’t say any more, I felt so emotional. This small, yet incredibly kind gesture made me want to cry. It wasn’t often that gestures like this were made on Zac’s behalf. The world can be a cruel place for people like him—if you don’t fit into the box, well, there’s no place for you. But this cupcake was a place. A safe place. And those were rare.

After we’d whisper-sung “Happy Birthday,” opened some presents, and eaten some cake, I found myself standing outside on the balcony looking down at the sea in the distance. It looked calm now, like a still pond.

“Okay, seriously, how can you still prefer the city, over . . . this?” Jake walked all the way up to me. “Look!” He waved his arm across the vista in front of us. The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky, casting a bright, white light across the surface of the calm water, making it look like liquid mercury.

I shrugged. “I suppose it’s pretty cool.”

“Pretty cool?” he repeated. “You can’t beat this.”

I laughed. “But have you seen downtown Joburg at sunset?”

“Don’t have to. This is better.”

I turned and faced him. “Just before the sun goes down completely, there’s this moment when the whole city changes. The Nelson Mandela Bridge flickers to life, red and green and purple, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, a train comes in at just the right time and all its windows are illuminated and it’s like a serpent of light coiling under the bridge. And then in the distance, the Hillbrow Tower turns on, bright pink and blue. And then Ponte lights up, and the sun turns the sky a bright orange, and it looks like all the gray concrete has turned to gold.”

I finished talking, and Jake stepped closer. He was looking at me in a way that stole the breath right out of my lungs.

“I get it now. You’re like a magpie.” He smiled.

“Sorry?”

“You like shiny things.” He looked down at my shoes and I wiggled my toes in them.

“I’ve never thought of myself like that before, but I guess I do.”

“Fine, fine!” He leaned over the railing. “If shiny things are your thing, I’m going to have to show you something.”

“What?” I also leaned over the railing; our shoulders almost touched.

“I’ll have to take you there later.”

“When?”

“Tonight? After you take Zac home, you think you can come out for a couple of hours?”

“Sure. If my mom is there to look after Zac.”

“Great.” And then he turned his head to me and nudged me with his shoulder. Again. This was the third nudge, and yes, I was counting. “You’re going to take one look at this and totally forget Joburg.”

“I doubt that.”

He looked back at the sea and nodded. “Trust me on this. I’m going to turn the city girl into a sea lover.”

“Okay, I’m off now.” Jake’s dad came up behind us and we both spun around. “I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

“Is something wrong?” Jake asked.

“Just some issues at the farm,” his dad replied. “Terrible timing. Of course, it would happen today. But what can you do.”

Jake nodded as if this was a common occurrence.

“Really nice meeting you, Lori.” He smiled at me. “And thanks so much for coming, it made Lisa’s birthday so much more special.”

“It’s a pleasure. Glad we were here,” I said, looking at this clean-cut, suited man. It was hard to imagine him ever being an alcoholic. But maybe that was judgmental of me; what did I think alcoholics looked like, anyway?

I watched him closely as he kissed Judy good-bye on the forehead. I felt a little twinge in my chest when I remembered my dad doing that with my mom. He always kissed her good-bye, even in the months leading up to the divorce. That thought made me feel even worse. When he was gone, I turned to Jake.

“I didn’t know your dad was a farmer,” I said.

Jake laughed and shook his head. “He’s an engineer, he works in renewable energy. The company he works for has a wind farm just out of Cape Town. He goes there pretty often, especially if there are technical issues.”

“Zac would love it there. He’s really into anything that involves electricity, batteries, and solar-powered devices. Things I know nothing about—he’s way smarter than me.”

“I think he’s smarter than all of us,” Jake said. “So, what about it?”

“What about what?” I asked.

“Still up for that adventure tonight?”

“Sure.” I looked over at Judy, who was starting to clean up inside.

“Wait, let me help you,” I said as I rushed back inside to help pick up the bits of torn birthday wrapping paper that had been strewn across the floor.

“That’s so kind of you, Lori.” She shot me another one of her supersmiles. Her smile was real, though. You could see it. “Totally unnecessary, since you’re our guest. But lovely. Thank you.”

“It’s a pleasure.” I felt myself smiling back at her, a genuine smile, and from it I had to conclude that . . .

Things I Like about Myself by Lori Palmer

I’m a good sister.

I’m a real artist.

I, Lori Palmer, am officially good with parents!