Jess is finally going! That New Zealand holiday is at its dawn, and all she can think of is landscapes, walks and adventures. But what she does not expect to find, is what is waiting around the corner - someone.
Someone who will turn her holiday up...
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The day after the confrontation with Catherine approached cool and misty.
Jess awoke and shrugged off the covers to find herself shivering in her thin pajamas. She squinted through the shutters and out at the meek sunlight, that was struggling through the rolling white blanket outside to reach her cold skin.
Hopping around in the hope of keeping warm, she rummaged hastily through the suitcase at the foot of her bed, and retrieved a bundle of clothes, before shuffling stiffly to the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, with clean teeth and some more adequate layers of clothes, she arrived in the kitchen.
"Look who's up early today!"
In Jess's mind, it was really only seven o'clock. She sometimes wished she slept in more - stayed in bed after first waking up - to attempt to get a little more sleep, or maybe see what it was like to wake up late on a weekend. But somehow, she had never gotten around to trying it. It would be such a shake-up to her day.
Nevertheless, with that in mind, she detected her aunt's reference to how late she had woken up the past few days of their trip.
She grinned at her. "You can't blame me for being jet lagged Aunty Charlotte!"
"Oh, it was jet lag, was it?" Aunt Charlotte laughed.
Jess did too. "As long as you don't let mum know," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "I was tired after the flight too, though I only realised it the next morning when I was trying to get out of bed... I just wasn't as tired as my mother!" She winked.
It tickled Jess, and her mother, to play these little games. To pretend that one wasn't tired when the other was, or that they had remembered something the other hadn't, brightened their days in a way only competition could.
As some families have game nights or karaoke, Jess and her mother spun their tales; always knowing that the other meant no real malice past the game.
Aunt Charlotte could only laugh again and shake her head. This quirky family she had married into was one of perpetual witticisms and surprises, and she could not have loved it more. Her niece was no exception.
As little as she saw the girl, and as little as she had been able to follow her journey growing up, being thousands of kilometres away, she always felt as though, somehow, she never completely lost touch with her.
Jess rummaged about in the cupboards, fishing out plates and food, eager now to get some sustenance to her grumbling stomach.
As she sat, a few minutes later, with her hot cup of coffee and toast, she felt better than she had yet during her holiday; she was now thoroughly warmed and the coolness of the morning, having in itself died away somewhat, served only to keep her feeling fresh and awake. Added to this was the fact that she was fully rested, having now slept off the jet lag and then some.
