Page 80 of Just Come Over

He told Hayden, “Hang on,” put the phone against his chest, and told Zora, “I need to talk to you.” He checked out her feet. “We could go by your place so you could change into some trainers and grab a jacket. A walk sounds good. A run sounds better.”

“I am not going for a run.” She was looking cross now, at least, instead of shut down, which was better. He could handle trouble. He couldn’t handle silence, and not knowing.

“No,” he said, “but I have a feeling I may need one. We’ll walk first. Then I’ll run.” He got on the phone again. “Change of plans. Come to Zora’s instead. If you’ll bring some takeaway for you and the kids, I’ll owe you.”

He may not have been a natural as a dad, but he was learning. You always had to think about dinner.

Zora drove on the way home, and she didn’t talk, so he did.

“Did you ride in any subway cars in Japan?” Isaiah asked. “They push you in like sardines, because they’re so crowded.”

“Yeh,” Rhys said. “We did. People stared at us on there, especially the big boys. You could say we didn’t blend. Asked us if we were the All Blacks, and were a bit disappointed when we said no. Humbling, eh.”

“Youarean All Black, though,” Isaiah said.

“That’s not how they meant it. I don’t think they’d have been impressed. We rode the train to Harajuku and visited a famous place called the Meiji Shrine. Very peaceful.”

“Oh,” Isaiah said, sounding disappointed.

“And then I went to the shops,” Rhys said. “Biggest shopping area you’ve ever seen. They’ve got one called Kiddy Land that’s a toy store.”

“Did you go inside?” Casey asked.

“I may have done,” he said. In fact, he’d had to buy another duffel. He may have got carried away, but then, he was new at this. “I can’t remember. It was a long flight. Maybe when we get to Auntie Zora’s house, I’ll remember.”

“Auntie Zora,” Casey said, “can you please drive very fast?”

When they got to Zora’s and he pulled out the first box and set it on the coffee table, Isaiah lost his words. He stared at it, then at Rhys, and Rhys crouched down again and said, “Yeh, mate. That’s for you. Because I missed you, too.”

Isaiah said, “It’s LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox! I can make robots.Cool.”After that, he seemed to run out of things to say.

“Nearly forgot this.” Rhys added the other thing, a kids’ tablet computer. “Controller, eh. Your mum will probably have some rules about using this thing, so I’ll leave that to her.”

Isaiah threw his arms around him. First time that had happened. Rhys held him tight for long seconds, then said, some gruffness in his voice that he couldn’t help, “I’m your uncle, you know. Maybe I wasn’t around much before, but I’m here now.”

“Thank you,” Isaiah said. “It’s very exciting. It costs two hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, though.” He looked at Zora. “Can I play with it now, Mum?”

“Yeh,” she said. “You can. There are probably instructions.”

“I can read instructions,” Isaiah said, then sat himself down and started opening the box. Rhys considered offering up some advice, like, “Take care how you go there,” but Isaiah didn’t need it. Besides, Casey was standing beside him, wriggling, moving from foot to foot.

Rhys asked, “Do you need to use the toilet?”

“No,” she said. “I’m just very excited. Because I think you have a present for me, too.”

“Do you?” He rummaged in his bag. “Not sure.”

Casey was nearly jumping up and down now, and Rhys felt like Father Christmas. It wasn’t a bad feeling at all. He said, “Oh, here’s one,” and drew out a squashy parcel. “You have to roll it out.”

She did, then lay on top of it and hugged it, because it was a sleeping bag in the form of a teddy bear. It had been ridiculously expensive, it was silly, and when he’d seen it, he’d known he needed to buy it for her.

“This way,” he told her, “when I’m not here, if you need a cuddle, your bear can cuddle you.”

“Iloveit.” She was already crawling inside and reaching down to rub the bear’s fuzzy white tummy. “It’s the best sleeping bagever.I never had one before.”

“A few more things,” he said. “I think so, at least. Where did they go?” He felt around in his duffel, and Casey was scrambling out of her bag and right there with him, pulling out the packages.

“Oh.”It was a sigh. “It’s Moana clothes. Threekinds.”