Page 11 of The Meaning Of You

I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re so funny.”

“Don’t think.Am,” she announced. “And now my ears are done for the day so be gone with you.”

She was impossible. “Shirley, I?—”

“What’s that?” She cupped a hand around her ear. “I can’t hear you.”

I groaned and got to my feet. “All right. All right. I’ll come back in a couple of days to make sure you haven’t instigated a coup or something.”

She pulled me down to kiss my cheek. “Bah. I’m too old for all that nonsense. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a decent puppet regime as long as I’m holding the strings. And it’s a lot less tiring.”

I laughed and dropped the packet of biscuits into her lap. “Hide those before you get caught. And maybe try to stay alive until my next visit.”

She shot me another wicked grin. “Not if I can help it.”

I rolled my eyes. “But I’d miss our talks.”

“So?” Shirley looked me up and down. “As shocking as this may seem, keeping you amused isn’t my problem, young Madigan.” She gave me a none-too-soft shove toward the open door. “You need to get yourself a boyfriend for that.”

I paused in the doorway and turned to face her. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

Her cheeky grin said it all.

“Whatever. See you in a couple of days.” I waved and stepped backward into the hall, straight into someone walking past the room. The poor man stumbled, and I had to grab his arm to steady him. “Oh god, I am so sorry.”

The man shook me loose. “You need to watch where you’re go—” He stopped when he saw me, those sorrowful grey eyes narrowing in recognition. “You... again. Madigan, right?”

Shit.It would have to be Nick Fisher, wouldn’t it? Only this wasn’t the enigmatic, joking Nick Fisher that I’d met in reception.

“Running into me once wasn’t enough?” There was a surprisingly angry bite to his tone that gave me pause. “This is a long-term care facility. A lot of the people using these hallways are unstable on their feet.”

It was hard to marry the friendly guy I’d been introduced to with this new boorish version. But my surprise lasted only a few seconds before I realised, looks aside, I really didn’t give a fuck about this guy.

“Madigan? What’s going on?” Aunt Shirley appeared in the doorway, her gaze narrowing at seeing Nick standing thereglaring at me. “I’ll thank you to lower your voice, whoever you are.”

Nick turned to evaluate his new opponent.

Shirley stared him down. “This is my room, son, and your tone and volume are making me anxious.”

Nick blinked at the surly note to Shirley’s voice, and I would’ve kissed her lying lips if I wasn’t too busy trying not to laugh. Aunt Shirley and the word anxiety rarely, if ever, occupied the same sentence.

Nick hesitated, clearly put off his game. “I—oh. I—well.” He nervously licked his lips. “I was simply pointing out that one needs to be careful in a place like this.”

“It’s okay, Aunty.” I put a hand on her arm and straightened my spine before turning my attention back to Nick. “I said that I was sorry. I’m not sure what else you expect, so you can take it or leave it.” I should’ve stopped at that, but for some reason, I glanced at Shirley and added, “I’m sure Nickneverhas days where nothing seems to go right and he trips over his own feet.” I turned back to Nick. “Nice for some, I guess.”

The hall fell deathly quiet, and Nick’s eyes widened in surprise... or maybe shock. It was hard to tell. Then, like a balloon popping, that angry expression crumbled and he fled back along the hall and out into reception without another word.

I watched him go, my frown deepening. Then I turned to Shirley whose surprised expression no doubt mirrored mine. “Well, that was interesting.”

She stared toward reception a moment longer, a curious look on her face. Then she patted my arm. “Nice-looking man, that one.” And she was gone, disappearing back into her room and closing the door firmly behind her.

I’d been dismissed.

I lookedup from my phone just long enough to give Jerry a wave as I passed through reception, heading for my car. A colleague in Perth had texted to say he was free to do the lock work on the Bible in a couple of weeks if I could swing the airfares. Delighted to have maybe solved my gnarly problem, I almost forgot about the whole incident with Nick. Almost. The man was clearly unstable.

As I crossed the shadowy carpark, I typed a reply and offered some potential dates that might work. Then I pressed send and looked up just in time to avoid walking into the front bumper of my old Toyota.

“Shit.” I pulled up short, arms windmilling for balance.

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