Page 67 of Drawing Home
At nine in the morning, the hotel was coming to life, with guests filling the airy breakfast room for the complimentary continental buffet. At the bar, Chris was setting up for lunch service, and in the lobby, a couple sat playing backgammon. Outside, the sun began peeking through the clouds.
Emma set a bucket of freshly cut roses from her garden on a table in the piano room. She lined up a few silver vases, filled them with fresh water, and treated the water with a few squeezes of lemon juice, some sugar, and a touch of bleach—another little trick, courtesy of her mother, to extend flower life. She placed the roses into the vases one by one, alternating white and yellow, gently removing the leaves that would fall beneath the waterline.
A waiter poked his head in. “Emma, someone’s at the front desk for you.”
She set the roses she was tending to back in the bucket, pulled off her gloves, and slipped through the narrow corridor to the lobby, where she found Mark sitting on the couch.
“What are you doing here?” she said, looking around.
“I want to talk to you about Penny.”
Her stomach tightened. “What’s wrong?”
“You tell me. I took the kid to the beach and she had a meltdown. What’s with this OCD?”
Emma sighed, partly relieved that this was his concern, but also partly irritated.
“Come on, Mark. You scared me for a minute. I told you, years ago, about her anxiety and all of this. I’m dealing with it, okay? She has good days and bad.”
“She said the shrink recommended meds and you said no.”
“First of all, she sees a therapist who is helping her with cognitive-behavioral therapy. It’s important that Penny develop the tools to deal with her OCD and not just rely on pills.”
“So you know better than a doctor?”
“When it comes to my daughter, yes, I do.”
“Ourdaughter,” he said.
“Oh, so now it’sourdaughter? Where were you the past five years when I was taking her to therapy appointments twice a week?” And where she’d be going later that day, leaving work when she shouldn’t. “Where were you the times she was sobbing at the sink after twenty minutes of hand-washing and I had to drag her away? She’s doing much better.”
“Where wereyouwhen she rode to the beach with a bunch of older teenage boys the other day?”
Emma felt her face flush. Boys had been there that day? What boys was Penny even friends with?
“I was here, working! You think any of this is easy? Who are you to waltz in here and criticize me?”
“I’m her father.”
“How nice of you to remember. And what interesting timing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Should she say it? “It means your daughter just inherited a house worth a fortune and suddenly you’re Father of the Year.”
Mark shook his head. “That’s extremely cynical and unfair, Emma.”
“Well, so is your attitude toward my parenting.”
“But since you brought up the house, why the hell are you letting strangers live there? Penny seems to feel these people want to take the house from her. You have to be smart, Emma. This is big-league stuff here.”
“I can’t believe you! Thisisabout the house!”
“No, this is about the fact that you’re obviously having problems with managing everything. That’s not a criticism, Emma. I’m trying to help.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you had no idea about the house when you showed up last week.”
“I had no idea. And I think you’re deflecting because you know I’m right about things that are going on with Penny.”
