window and limited ventilation, she hoped the tuna pasta he’d had for lunch wouldn’t reappear on Dan’s upholstery.
“It’ll be fine,” Dan reassured. “It’s just a car.”
Ben gently stroked the red paintwork. “My dad says that fast red cars are for people with baby willies.”
Anya felt her face brighten as she squeezed Ben’s hand tighter. “I’m so sorry, Dan, I don’t know where that came from. I’m sure he doesn’t even know what it means.”
Dan stood hands in his back pockets, then moved them self-consciously to his front. “That’s okay, having met your ex-husband, I can imagine he might say that.”
She bent down to her son’s eye level. Martin did have a habit of mouthing off, especially about people who intimidated him for one reason or another. “We don’t say rude things like that. Apologize please.”
“Sorry, Mr. Brody,” Ben uttered, and raised his eyebrows at his mother. “Why is it rude?”
“Sometimes it’s not polite to repeat what grown-ups like your dad say.”
Despite Anya’s reservations, Dan remained insistent that they take his Ferrari to the nursing home. With Ben in his booster and Anya in the passenger seat with her knees almost touching the dash, they accelerated out of her street, faster than she had expected. Ben sat quietly, having quickly forgotten his reprimand.
“This is a cool car!” he exclaimed.
“Glad you like it. Thanks for agreeing to come,” Dan said. “I don’t get the chance to visit my dad very often.”
Anya wondered whether Dan couldn’t or
They car hugged a tight corner on an amber light. Anya placed her hands by her sides to brace herself. “How long ago was his first stroke?”
“Happened just after Mum’s funeral. Doctors thought it was the stress of losing her. He was one of those men who never had to see a doctor or take medication.”
Anya knew the type. Usually they were men who had been active in their youth and clung to those memories. While they were healthy, they stayed away from doctors, even for routine check-ups. By the time they had their strokes or dropped dead of a heart attack, it was too late.
They pulled up at a set of lights, next to a teenager whose eyes widened at the sight of the Italian car.
Dan revved the engine, then backed off the accelerator when Anya turned to him and raised her eyebrows. “You know you’d make that teenager’s day if you let him take off from the lights first.”
The lawyer shrugged. “You’re always thinking of other people.” Still, he hesitated when the lights changed and the teenager disappeared with smoke blowing out the back of his faded Cortina.
“Satisfied?” He changed gear and revved the engine again.
Anya smiled.
“You know, you’re like my mum in that way.” He held the gearstick while he spoke. “Dad used to say that Paul Newman had it right being so proud of his wife. Why go out for a hamburger when you’ve got steak at home? Even after fifty years together.”
Anya’s grandparents were like that. She had tried to imagine sleeping next to someone for fifty or more years, then suddenly waking up without them. The world empathized with the grief of a newlywed whose partner had died. The reality was that, in time, young people moved on after the death of a spouse. For a couple who had been together decades, the grief of losing their life partner could be too much to live with.
She moved her hands to her lap as they overtook a bus. “Do you share his steak philosophy?”
“In theory.” He grinned. “But in Dad’s day they didn’t have lamb burgers, gourmet vegetarian, organic meat or duck to choose from.”
“You and my ex-husband have more in common than you think.” She turned around and Ben had fallen asleep.
“Are you close to your father?”
Dan glanced at his passenger. “I was closer to Mum. Dad has always been pretty opinionated about community service law and didn’t really approve when I went into private practice.”
“You said he was always healthy. It can’t be easy going from that to a nursing home.”
Dan slowed the car a little and checked road signs. “It’s not easy seeing him so helpless. He isn’t the father I know, he’s a shell of a man now. Hell, we can’t even argue, so how am I supposed to know when I’ve disappointed him again.”
Suddenly Dan’s behavior with women and his aggressive approach to winning cases made more sense. Even intelligent, successful adults still desperately wanted approval-and love-from their parents, and could overcompensate in the process.
After thirty years, Anya still wanted to hear her mother tell her that she wasn’t to blame for Miriam’s abduction.
Dan pulled into the gravel driveway leading to the red-brick complex and parked in front of a grassed area. He pulled a backpack from the boot as Anya reached back and stroked her son’s arm, waking him from a shallow sleep.
Inside the grounds of Pine Lodge, they pressed the buzzer and waited. The jangling of keys preceded the staff member’s appearance.
“Good morning. How can I help you?” The older woman pushed the sleeves of her navy cardigan up to her elbows. Beneath, her corporate patterned shirt hung out over navy trousers. This was a nurse who was more hands-on than usual administrators. The white walking shoes confirmed it.
As she wiped her hands on her trousers, the sleeves slid down again.
“Now, you would have to be William Brody’s son. You are the absolute splitting image.”
Dan lowered his head and tentatively extended his hand.
“Oh, it’s only water, I’ve been helping bathe one of our residents who thinks cleaning once a month is excessive. Sometimes it’s just like being with toddlers, the fuss some of them make.” She shook hands with each of them, making a special fuss of Ben.
“I’m Rhonda Gillespie, nursing unit manager. I was on holidays when your father was admitted, which is why we haven’t met. The old wag is doing really well.”
“Is it convenient to visit?”
“We’ll make it convenient. Nothing like some lovely family to cheer you up. How about in the garden? He likes it out there and it’s a gorgeous day.” She showed them in and pointed to the doors past the corridor. “Nothing extravagant, but there’s a courtyard with outdoor furniture, potted plants and a birdbath.”
“Excellent,” Dan said.
Ben held his mother’s hand.
Sister Gillespie locked the front door behind them and loped off, shoes squeaking on the lino floor with each step.
“You’d think this was a prison,” Dan whispered.
“They probably have some demented patients who wander. They have a duty to stop them getting lost. No doubt some lawyer would sue them for neglect if that happened.”
“Valid point, I suppose.”
Dan opened the external door for Anya and Ben. They walked down a ramp to a wooden bench by a half-filled water fountain. The lawyer fidgeted with his shirt, tucking it further in multiple times before curling his top lip at the oversized birdbath.
“That’s a disgrace, it’s stagnant. You’d think they would have gone to the trouble of putting in a pump and fountain instead. The rates they charge…”
Anya wondered if the sound of running water would have been advisable in a home for the elderly infirm.
“I’m guessing you’ve never had prostate trouble, or urinary incontinence.”
“Ah. No.” He sat and straightened his legs before pulling them back in.
“Can I look for insects?” Ben asked, squatting down near one of the plants near the brick wall.
“Sure, but don’t touch any spiders.”
“Mum.” Ben raised both hands in the air. “Spiders have eight legs. Insects only have six legs.”
