Page 26 of The Lie
‘Fun dinner?’
‘It was OK, predictable. The lady next to me was charming, but so deaf I don’t think she heard a single word I said.’
Finch came and stood in front of her, his shirt cuffs dangling loose, and reached forward, stroking his fingers down her cheek. ‘I’m so glad you’re here, Romy … I know you’re up against it at the moment.’ He paused, and she sensed he wanted to say something more. But he just continued to gaze down at her, his expression unreadable.
Romy did not want to think about what she was ‘up against’. She just wanted to be normal, to make love to this attractive man who had so quickly managed to invade her heart. She said nothing, hoping he wouldn’t mention Michael’s name, as she began to pull him down towards her, suddenly desperate to hold him in her arms. But Finch resisted and turned away from her embrace, sitting down beside her in silence, his hands clasped in his lap.
‘How’s the invalid?’ he asked.
Romy frowned. Finch had asked after Michael many times since his stroke. But tonight there seemed a faintly sardonic edge to his enquiry. Their relationship was still so new – although it seemed much older than it was – but she had no idea what he really felt about the situation. ‘You don’t mind, do you? Me moving back to help Michael out?’
Finch was slow to answer. ‘Should I?’
She shook her head, turning to him and sliding her hand through the gap where his shirt lay partly unbuttoned, her fingertips grazing his smooth skin. ‘There’d be no need,’ she said. ‘I’m doing this for Leo as much as for Michael. And it’s just a few weeks.’
Finch nodded and put his arm around her shoulders. But he still seemed preoccupied, not completely present as he had on previous occasions. Michael seemed to be hovering over them both, like a sad ghost. It was the first time Romy had been aware of Finch’s unease about the situation. But she felt powerless to brush it away and, as they sat there in silence, she was aware of a small frisson of anxiety building in her own gut.
19
‘I may not be able to move my left side very well,’ Michael complained to Romy and the staff nurse, while they waited for the hospital transport, ‘but I can still comprehend that you’re talking about me as if I’m a halfwit … or not here at all.’
Romy was embarrassed. Theyweretalking about him as if he wasn’t there.
‘I fully intend you to hear everything, Michael,’ Staff Nurse Weeks said, giving him a glacial smile before turning back to her. ‘It’s tempting for family members to pander to stroke patients when they first get them home. But you won’t be doing him any favours, Romy. Michael will just get lazy, won’t you?’ She shot him a severe look. ‘And it’ll take him much, much longer to recover.’ She paused. ‘The physios will be in every day. They’ll tell you what he is and isn’t capable of.’
‘I can bloody well tell her that, myself,’ Michael growled weakly.
The two ambulance care assistants carried the wheelchair, with Michael in it, up the curved staircase. The block had a lift, but it did not stop at the landing where his flat was situated.Getting him out again is going to be a nightmare, thought Romy, glancing back at the additional flight of steps outside the main front door, as if seeingthem for the first time, despite having walked up and down them for years.
Leo opened the door and she could see the worry writ large across her son’s face as he glanced at his father in the wheelchair. Daniel stood silently behind Leo, and she took comfort from the Swiss boy’s calm presence.He will know how to handle this, she thought, as one of the ambulance assistants pressed the brake on the wheelchair with her foot and waved a cheery goodbye.
‘This is Daniel.’ Romy introduced the Swiss boy to Michael. ‘He’s going to be helping out till you’re back on your feet.’
Michael seemed dazed. He nodded tiredly but made no move to shake Daniel’s proffered hand. ‘I need to lie down,’ he said, addressing Romy.
This is worse than I thought. Romy stood looking down at the figure on the bed, his eyes closed, head resting on the linen pillowcase. Michael looked to be at death’s door, his skin sweaty and tinged with blue, his breathing laboured – she worried he wouldn’t even last the day.Can he really recover from this?she asked herself, as the three of them crept quietly away.
Romy made Leo and Daniel coffee. As they sat at the kitchen table, she saw Leo glancing at his phone and frowning as he began to type something with impressive speed.
She felt sympathy for him. ‘Work?’
Her son nodded. ‘Thirteen emails already.Fuck,’ he muttered, under his breath, then added, ‘I … sort of told them I’d be in later.’
‘Today? You’re going in today?’
Leo squirmed. ‘I really should, Mum. Dickeson is taking a dim view of me having any more time off.’
Although Romy understood, she felt a spurt of irritation at his boss and at Leo – unfair, she knew – for being so compliant. Daniel, perhaps sensing the tension, got up and rinsed his cup, then left the room, muttering about checking on Michael.
‘Shall I make a sandwich for you to take with you?’ she said to Leo, her voice carefully controlled as she opened the fridge and stared at the contents. ‘I’ve got some ham – the one you like – and cheese. There’s salad …’
Leo looked panicky, running his fingers nervously through his short curls. ‘I’m OK, thanks, Mum,’ he said. ‘In fact I should get going – if you think you can manage, that is. There’s a really important meeting this afternoon.’ He looked at her guiltily. ‘But if you need me, of course I’ll stay …’
Her son knew she would let him go. She’d always managed, as far as Leo was concerned. ‘Go on, then,’ she said, then added, ‘But can you come back over the weekend? Daniel isn’t working Saturdays or Sundays, as you know, until Andreas leaves and he moves in full time, when we can arrange his days off to suit us all. And I don’t want to be on my own with your dad until he’s stronger. I’m not sure if I could hold him if he topples.’
‘Of course, Mum,’ he replied distractedly, as he got up from the table. She could tell he was itching to be off and would probably have agreed to anything in that moment.
‘Lucky old Rex, eh?’ Leo said, as he gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘Bet he’s on his surfboard right now,skimming through those waves on Bondi, soaking up the rays, not a care in the world.’
