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The house next door made no sense. Wiri dumped his bag in the double bedroom and stared around him with a frown. He jumped as a woman stepped through the open doorway. Mahogany curls bounced in a ponytail at the back of her head, and her blue eyes sparkled in her slender face. She pointed at the pile of bedding folded into a tower on the mattress. “I’ll leave you clean sheets each week and there are towels in the airing cupboard in the hall.” She cocked her head and stared at him. “Is everything okay?”
Wiri nodded. Vaughan had made him remove his trainers on the porch and place them on a rack. After his disregard for the house next door, it had seemed a stark contrast in behaviour. But as Wiri looked around his new bedroom, it made perfect sense. The threads of a plush grey rug pressed through his socks to caress his toes. “It’s nicer than I expected,” he admitted. “I figured you’d shove me in a loft somewhere.”
The woman released a soft laugh. “That’s what my husband intended, but I have plans for the big shed. The lodger said he didn’t mind sharing. It makes his rent cheaper, and you’ll find it handy for work.” She took a step forward and Wiri noticed a woodenness in her stance. She used her right palm to cradle her left elbow as though it hurt. “I put some basics in the fridge to carry you through until you can visit the supermarket. Jet’s doing a run of night shifts, so you won’t see much of him until his rotation changes.”
“Right.” Wiri swallowed and his brow creased with a frown. He struggled to formulate the sentence in his head, hating to reject the woman’s hospitality at their first meeting. “I’m trying to raise money,” he said, the words tumbling over his reluctant tongue. “I can’t afford this.” He licked his lips and stared at an elegant painting on the wall behind her head.
The woman’s lips flattened into a line of sympathy. Her ponytail bounced as she shook her head. “Nothing’s changed from the earlier terms,” she said, her tone soothing. “Vaughan will pay you what he agreed.” Her blue irises glittered like diamonds in the white light from the bedside lamp. “We have money. We don’t need to cheat you.”
Wiri swallowed. Her statement rankled against everything he’d already observed of Vaughan. He’d arrived to find his new employer drop kicking a financier onto the driveway of his dilapidated house, yet his wife oozed ready cash and privilege. He gave himself a mental shake and sank onto the mattress, choosing to focus on his own problems instead of the stranger’s.
“Thanks,” he said, realising she’d waited for his answer. “I forgot to ask Vaughan what time he wanted me to start work in the morning.” He blinked against the scratchiness of his eyes as stress and exhaustion nipped at his psyche.
The woman turned to leave and stopped in the doorway. “Walk across the paddock at seven o’clock. You can have breakfast with us.” Her tentative smile lit up the room. “I’m Leilah, by the way. I hope you’ll be happy here.”
She left before giving Wiri a chance to reply and he sat on the bed and listened to her steps pad along the hallway towards the front of the house. He jumped as Vaughan’s head appeared around the door. “You find everything you need?” he growled.
“Yeah, thanks.” Wiri rose and dug his thumbs into his back pockets. The stance felt awkward, and he straightened his shoulders and tried to appear less afraid of the situation he’d walked into with such care and planning, but now regretted. “I’ll see you tomorrow at seven o’clock.”
Vaughan nodded and withdrew his head, closing the door behind him with a click. Wiri sank onto the mattress and pressed his fingers against his eyes. He’d grabbed his phone from the truck and stuffed it into his jeans pocket and it buzzed against his thigh. Wiri groaned.
Tugging the device free, he saw his aunt’s smiling icon flashing on the screen, her phone number strobing below it. Taking a deep breath, Wiri answered her call, keen not to raise suspicion. “Hey, Ma,” he said, forcing joviality into his voice. “How are you going?”
“Good sweetheart.” She sounded bright. Wiri swallowed the confession rising into his throat, realising too late how dangerous the interaction might prove. He’d never been able to lie to Hana. She possessed an uncanny foresight and saw through his deviousness in record time. “Did you have a safe journey?” The question held a veiled rebuke. He’d promised to text her.
Wiri cleared his throat. “I got a bit lost. The farm is quite hard to find.” He glanced around him at the plush bedroom. “The house I’m staying in is amazing,” he gushed. “They just finished renovating.” He’d said too much and knew it the moment her silence reached him.
“Oh,” she managed. “Aren’t you staying with the family?”
Wiri squeezed his eyes closed tight enough to create spots of lights which flashed behind his eyelids. “Yes.” He steered a more careful path through the truth, acknowledging the safety of staying as close to it as he dared. “They have two houses next door to each other.” He omitted the presence of a wide paddock between them.
“Logan didn’t mention that.” Hana exhaled with a sigh. “But I don’t think he’s visited for many years. How much warmer is it in the north?”
Wiri imagined her next sentence containing a threat to visit him and held his breath. His words emerged with a jolting edge to the consonants. “It’s not much different,” he said, crossing the fingers of his left hand behind his back. “I think there’s rain forecast for the next few days.”
“Boo,” Hana replied, and he sensed her lips turning down in sympathy. “The house is quiet without you. Mac is walking around like a left shoe looking for the right one.”
“Oh.” Wiri clenched his knees together to stop them from knocking. “How are Edin and Phoe?”
Hana snorted a laugh. “You only left this morning, sweetheart. Edin’s meant to be getting ready for youth group but started prettying herself an hour ago and hasn’t reappeared. Phoe went riding with Logan. I think it helps to clear her head after all the upset of the last few weeks.”
“Yeah.” Wiri dropped his head back to stare at the immaculate ceiling. The glow of the lamp cast shadows around the ceiling rose, stretching it into an oval and distorting the embossed plaster. He hated thinking about it, dwelling on thoughts of Phoenix kissing another boy. He swallowed, remembering how she’d almost died, the boulder rising through his stomach to press against his heart.
And then she’d kissed him, given him hope and presented him with her gift.
His fingers strayed to the top pocket of his duffel bag and he tugged the bracelet free. The beads shifted around the elastic, clinking against his fingers. He clasped it to his chest and released a sigh. A silence made him pull the phone away from his ear and glance at the screen. Then Hana’s voice crackled again. “Signal,” she said.
“Pardon?” Wiri brought the bracelet to his lips, the irony not wasted on him. The token of Phoenix’s forbidden love taunted her mother, nestling against the phone as she asked more questions.
“I said, the signal is terrible. Tell me something about your new job before we get cut off.”
“I’m not sure yet what he wants me to do,” he managed. “I start tomorrow. Just general labouring, I guess. The other guy left. But they seem like real nice people.”
“That’s great.” The connection crackled again. “I’m surprised it’s such a poor reception,” Hana repeated. “The signal keeps coming and going. Are you far from Kerikeri?”
Wiri held back the snort which threatened to escape. He wanted to confess he was miles away from the northern town, further in fact than her. Logan had made enquiries with the family member who ran a beef farm before leaving the rest to Wiri. He’d never said where he was headed, but nor had he stopped their naive assumption. “Yes,” he replied, steering close to the truth. “Miles away from Kerikeri. The signal is dodgy, but I’ll call when I can.”
“Okay sweetheart.” Hana sounded sad. “Keep us posted about how you’re doing.” She lowered her voice as Edin complained in the background. She said something about her fake eyelashes sticking to the mirror instead of her face. “I miss you,” Hana whispered.
“Thanks Ma.” His voice wavered. “I miss you too.” The statement formed the closest one to the truth of their entire conversation. The call ended, and he stared at the screen, knowing he missed her and wishing he could just throw himself on her mercy and beg for her help.
He shook his head and pressed the bracelet to his lips again before hiding it beneath his pillow. Hana might have understood his agony, but she’d prove no match for her husband.
No one would ever be good enough for his Phoenix, least of all the bastard son of the man who cut him open with a machete. And laughed as his intestines spilled out onto the dusty earth.
