“Hisfakefiancée,” I correct. “There’s a big difference.”
It’s Sunday evening, and the three of us are sitting in the living room, sharing a bottle of wine. It’s been a tough day, and it’s nice to finally sit down and relax.
After leaving Kingi at the Waiora, I took Thea back to my parents’ house to discover them all very quiet and sullen. At least they’d stopped arguing, I consoled myself, but to be honest, the miserable, oppressive atmosphere was even worse. Thea and I chattered away about our swim, but we were met with grunts and monosyllabic answers, and in the end I’d had enough. I said I was going home, gave Thea a cuddle, kissed my father’s head, and made my way to the door.
Mum met me there, and, uncharacteristically for her, as she’s not a hugger, she put her arms around me and held me tightly.
“Hey…” Alarmed, I rubbed her back and gave her a squeeze. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be all right.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’m frightened, Chess.”
“There’s nothing to be frightened about.”
“We could lose the house. Especially now he’s added five thousand more dollars to the total. How could he do that when he knew how bad things were?”
“He’s not thinking,” I said firmly, drawing back and holding her by her upper arms. “I know it hurts, but we don’t even enter his head when he’s in the middle of it; nor do Nina or Thea. All he can think about is getting the buzz from the next bet. That’s why he needs help. We can’t keep bailing him out like this. We’re just enabling him.”
“He’s promised he won’t run up any more debt.”
“He’s promised so many times, Mum. It won’t work, because he’s an addict, and he can’t stop.”
She pressed her fingers to her mouth as her bottom lip trembled. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”
She’s even shorter than I am, and I had to bend to look into her eyes. “You haven’t done anything. It’s like having asthma or being short sighted. It’s nobody’s fault. There’s something askew in his brain, and it’s nothing to do with you. He needs to get professional help.”
There wasn’t anything else I could say, and I left then, insisting I’d pop over on Monday to check on Dad and see if she wanted anything.
I cried as I drove home. I felt as if I was giving other people every ounce of my energy, and there was nothing left for me. And the worst thing was that it didn’t feel as if it was doing any good. Mark was no better, and there was no sign to the end of his gambling. I believed everything I’d said to my mother, and I knew we were enabling him, but what could I do? I’ve heard stories of people being dragged to rehab and relapsing as soon as they’re released. You’ve got to want to be better, you’ve got to want to stop, or what’s the point?
When I got in, both Lisa and Ria were home, and they took one look at my tear-stained face, pressed a glass of wine inmy hand, ran me a bath, and told me not to come out until I’d finished the wine and was ready to talk.
After half an hour I emerged to discover they’d ordered a pizza, and we sat and ate and drank more wine as I told them what had happened today. I’d already told them about Mark’s problem and my father’s health, so it didn’t take long to update them.
And then I told them about Kingi’s offer.
“So let me get this straight,” Ria says. “You’re talking about Kingi Davis? The dude who’s just broken up with Sabrina Pearce?”
“The very same.”
“And you knew him when you were kids?”
“Yeah, Dad used to mow his father’s lawns.”
“But he’s, like, mega-rich?”
“Oh yeah,” I say with feeling. “Mega, uber, lost track of the number of zeroes in his bank account kind of rich.”
“Fuck.” Her eyes are like dinner plates. “So… he wants you to pretend to be his fiancée, and in return he’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars.”
“That’s the long and short of it, yes.”
She’s sitting at the other end of the sofa, and she moves a bit closer to me and rests her hand on my forehead.
“What are you doing?” I ask, puzzled.
“Taking your temperature. I mean, clearly you’re coming down with something if you haven’t bitten his hand off.”
I push her away and give her a wry look. “It’s not that easy.”