mermaids treasure? Or will heavy breezes whip it through the sky, carrying it over every surface

because it’s not finished yet?

An eerie shiver follows me as I make my way back to the hatchback and continue my way to

Wellington.

In a rural, coastal stretch between Christchurch and Picton, the hatchback splutters and dies. I view

this annoying incident as my answer—confirmation my story has sunk.

I call roadside help, and they tow the dead car to Kaikoura, a small town.

Long story short, she’s not worth starting again.

I say my goodbyes and start trekking down the main road, thumb out, looking for a ride. Five cars

pass before one slows down and flashes its lights at me. I jog over pebbles—pick a small one up—and

slide into the silver car.

The driver is wearing board shorts and a Flight of the Conchords T-shirt. His crooked smile reveals

a slight gap between his front teeth. Five or so years older than me, I’d guess.

His brown eyes are warm but slightly nervous.

I shake his hand. “Cooper. My car died, and I’d love to get up toward Picton.”

He grins. “Zach. And it just so happens I’m taking the ferry there to Wellington.”

emerald

Christmas, and Zach and I have been dating for months now. I want to surprise Annie with a

beautiful kauri rocking chair I found at a warehouse out in Petone. It cost a fortune, but since Annie was

moving into a single apartment and had just landed a job as a school counselor, I really wanted to get

her something special.

Zach drives me and the chair, strapped into the trunk, to Annie’s new apartment on Christmas

morning. He yawns and shakes his head. “Why so early?”

“Because she woke me at six on my birthday. It’s time for payback.”

Zach mumbles something about getting me back for getting him up so early, and I promise I’ll

make it up to him later. He perks up and grins.

I laugh, leaning over to kiss his stubbly cheek. “Merry Christmas, Zach.”

As soon as we arrive at Annie’s, Zach parks the car, races around to my side and pulls me out. He

nips my lips and kisses me against the car door. “You taste like peppermint,” he says as I pull a halfeaten

candy cane out of my pocket.

He laughs and pilfers it. The beast.

We carry the chair up the steep incline to the small, one-bedroom house overlooking the bush and a

wedge of ocean. I leave the chair at the front door with Zach and sneak off around the house to Annie’s

bedroom.

Her window is partially open, and I’m about to cry out Merry Christmas and swing inside when I

hear a guy laugh and say, “Here. This is for you. Merry Christmas.”

I freeze. I recognize his voice.

“You didn’t have to,” Annie says. A long beat, then—

“Do you like them?”

“I love them. I love you—”

We gasp at the same time. Footsteps stomp across the floorboards and the curtains are flung open. I

am face to face with Ernie.

His face pales but he keeps his head high. Annie pushes open the window and glares at me. A long

pair of emerald earrings glimmer in the morning light, making her eyes brighter.

“I came to surprise you,” I say slowly. “Turns out you beat me to it again, Annie. What’s going

on?”

My attention narrows to Ernie and the thin pair of boxers he’s wearing.

“I’m in love with her. I’m in love with Annie.”

Annie blushes and smiles coyly at their feet before leaning over and kissing his cheek just the way I

did with Zach.

Ernie brushes her hair over her shoulders. “Maybe it’s time to tell your brother?”

She laughs and gestures to me. “Come to the front, we’ll let you in.”

Ernie has changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top when he and Annie open the door and let me,

Zach, and the chair inside the dining room.

Annie coos over the chair until I start tapping my foot. Zach comes up behind me, wraps his arms

around my waist and tells me to take a breath. Love is a wonderful feeling.

I relax against him, but I wonder if Zach is growing impatient with my excuses not to say I love

you.

I block out the worry and concentrate instead on Ernie, who is nervously preparing some tea.

“How long?” I ask.

Annie answers, “A year.”

A whole year? My closest friend and my sister?

“Longer, Annie,” Ernie says. “And you know it.”

She rocks in her new chair. “It grew slowly, I don’t know how long it’s been going on but it’s a year

since we—”

“I don’t need to know all the details.”

Ernie laughs. “Fine. I’ve been smitten with your sister from the first time I saw her.”

Smitten? The word sounds foreign coming from Ernie’s mouth. “You didn’t say anything.”

“Dude. She’s your sister. Be weird if I told you how much she turns me on and that every day I

wank—”

And there’s the Ernie I know. “I pray to God you don’t finish that sentence.”

Annie stifles a giggle.

“I get it. You didn’t tell me you had a crush on her.” I shake my head at Annie. “How on earth did

you fall for this guy?”

I love Ernie, I do, but there’s a degree of stupid that people shouldn’t overlook.

Annie stops rocking. “Actions speak louder than words. Ernie shows me every day how much he

cares. It started when he danced with you at Newtown High.”

“You fell for him all the way back then? I thought you liked Darren?”

“I did like Darren back then.”

“Good things take time,” Ernie says, handing me a cup of tea. “I’m a good thing.”

Annie grins. “Took me a while to figure it out.”

“I hated when you hooked up with Darren,” Ernie says, twisting a chair from the table and

straddling it. “Bert and Cooper joined in my grief that day in the form of debauchery. Never been so

drunk in my life.”

How did I not recognize Ernie was suffering as much as I was that fateful day? I pull out a chair

and slump onto it. “I’m sorry, Ernie. I didn’t know.”

“You had your own problems. We all did.”

Zach stands behind me, rubbing my shoulders. I tilt my head back and smile at him. He leans down

and kisses me. For a second, it’s almost enough and I’m close to something like love for him. Maybe if I

wait long enough, it will grow on me like it did with my sister and Ernie.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I ask, lifting my tea and taking a sip. The liquid is warm but

hasn’t been boiled.

He makes her tea the way she likes it.

“Because—”

“Because I was afraid you would turn her away from me,” Ernie says. “I say stupid things

sometimes, and you know all the shit I’ve done. How could you take me seriously? How could you see

past those parts to the real ones? I love Annie, and I’m scared one day she’ll see how much more

amazing she is than me. As selfish as it might’ve been, I didn’t want you to give her a head start.”

I take another sip of tea.

I stand and lean down to hug Annie. I breathe in the soapy scent of her hair, and I flinch at her cold

earring against my cheek.

Emeralds. Ernie’s birthstone. Ernie walks into view and I hold his nervous stare. “They say so long

as the friendship is true, emeralds will stay in one piece. I hope yours never break, Annie.”

She nods, chin banging against my shoulder. “They won’t. I won’t let them.”

serpentinite

I bring Zach home to Mum’s for my twentieth. This is the first time they’ve met, and Zach is taking

it all in stride. Why have I waited so long to show him off?

He leans back in his chair, the brown of his T-shirt complementary against the dark wood. He fits at

this table, fits in conversation with Mum and Paul, jokes casually with Ernie, and listens carefully to

Annie. He fits here, and he should fit with me too.

I grab his hand under the table and rub my thumb in circles at his wrist.