“Thank you,” she said, slightly surprised that he’d even noticed it, but also a tad pleased.She’d spent the better half of a whole morning setting up the tree, trimming it, and then adding other traditional decorations and streamers around the house to give it a festive feel.Karl had grumbled at her the whole time, saying he disliked Christmas and she was just making the place look untidy.But she’d ignored him, deciding this was her house, and if she wanted to lift her spirits by making it look pretty, then she’d do just that.It was also a silent salute to her mother’s memory.Karin had always made such an effort to make the house look and feel amazing for her two girls at Christmas, and Aurora had adopted that tradition as her own, feeling as if it brought her mother closer.It also helped her to remember the good times with her instead of being melancholy over her passing, the anniversary of which was coming soon after the new year.Almost unconsciously, Aurora touched a fingertip to one of the small, heart-shaped earrings she always wore.They’d been a present from her mother for her eighteenth birthday, and she rarely took them off.
Giving herself a mental shake, Aurora pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on showing Jiro around.“My bedroom is upstairs in the converted attic.”She pointed at the stairs leading upward near the front door, but she’s already decided he definitely didn’t need to see up there.“The kitchen is through here,” she continued, leading him through into the rear of the house.
This was probably her favorite room.Right before her father had moved in, she’d had the whole kitchen renovated.She’d done a lot of the work herself to keep the costs down.Ordered the flat pack cabinets from IKEA and put them together herself, then painted them a lovely duck-egg blue.The copper sink was one she found second-hand online, as was her pride and joy, a large barista-style coffee machine that sat in a corner of the countertop.She’d also found the old-fashioned timber window frames at a second-hand furniture joint and brought them back to life by sanding them and giving them a new paint job.Now she had a wonderful view out over her cute little garden and back patio.A friend of a friend knew a plumber who did the work for cash in hand, and the only thing she had to pay full price on was the electrical work.But it’d been worth it, because now the room was light and bright, and made her happy whenever she walked in.It was somewhere to escape from Fader as he rarely entered the kitchen; cooking was a woman’s job.
“Nice.”Jiro gave an appreciative nod.“Wow.You might be a woman after my own heart,” he added as he spied the coffee machine.“Now that’s impressive.”He stepped up to the countertop and ran an admiring finger over the polished chrome.“I bet it makes bloody good coffee.”He turned to face her, his eyes alight with sudden animation.
“It does,” she agreed.As she watched him continue his appreciative study of the machine, she felt her shoulders begin to relax as some of her worry leached out of her muscles.At least they had one thing in common: a love of good coffee.Perhaps his stay here wouldn’t be as bad as she was imagining.
“Your room is this way.”She led him past the back door and down a long corridor that hugged the rear of the building.“There’s the bathroom,” she said, pushing open the first door on the right so he could look in as they went by, making a mental note to get him a clean towel.Her father needed help to shower, and so she knew the bathroom would be in fairly good condition, because she was always the one to clean up after him.“Sorry, it’s not very big,” she apologized, leading him along to the door at the end of the corridor.She poked her head in first to make sure it was all as she had left it last time she’d been in, grateful to see everything was still neat and tidy and in its place.
Her father slept in the bigger bedroom right next to the bathroom, and she suddenly hoped that he wouldn’t keep Jiro awake with his snoring.The walls were thin in this cottage.Aurora didn’t hear it up in her attic room, but she should probably warn him to wear some earplugs.
“It’s fine,” Jiro assured her, dumping his duffel on the neatly made bed.“You know I’m grateful just to have a bed for the night,” he added, flashing her a grin.It was the first time she’d seen him relax enough to actually smile.It was a very good smile.Showing straight, white teeth, and made his eyes crinkle up at the corners in a most endearing manner.It made her catch her breath as she realized just how good-looking he was.
Turning away, she tried to hide how flustered she was, by saying, “It’s all good.Now, if you wouldn’t mind keeping my father occupied for a few minutes, I’ll make us a coffee.”She knew she was dumping him in the deep end, but it was either that or he stay locked up in his room.“Or would you prefer something harder?Or softer,” she added as an afterthought.
“Even though I’d love to taste a coffee from your amazing machine, I would very much like a beer right now, if you have one.It’s been a kind of stressful day.”
That was an understatement, she decided.And if he was going to spend any time talking to Karl, then he’d definitely need something more than just coffee.She didn’t drink a lot of alcohol, and she rationed Karl’s intake using the doctor’s recommendations that drinking any alcohol would only bring on his symptoms quicker as her excuse.While in truth, it was because Karl became even more ornery when he drank.But she kept a secret stash in her small shed out in the backyard so he couldn’t get to it for the odd occasion when she herself needed a drink.Perhaps tonight they could all do with a little loosening up.
“I’ll get us all a beer,” she replied.“I could use one too.”
“Of course you could,” he said, his features softening.“Look, I was wrong to say those things earlier.I was angry, frustrated, stressed.And clearly I don’t handle stress well.”He touched her gently on the arm and gave a weak smile.“I’d hate to think that you took any of what I said to heart.And I’d hate to think I’d damaged our relationship.”
“I know,” she replied.“And you haven’t.”And this time she actually meant it, which surprised her a little.She had to force her gaze away from his.Those dark eyes had a compelling pull that she was finding hard to resist.It also surprised her he thought they had arelationship.Because they didn’t; she’d only known him for a few hours.That wasn’t long enough to form any sort of bond.
“Thank you.”His voice remained soft, compassionate.Then he straightened his spine and said, “Right.Your father likes to hear about cruise ships, huh?Well, have I got some stories for him?”He gestured for her to precede him down the hallway, and she couldn’t stop the small bubble of respect that rose from her gut; he was a man who took his duties seriously.
She led him back to the kitchen, where she opened the back door to go out to the shed to retrieve the beer, motioning for him to go back the way they’d come into the living room.The freezing air hit her as she put on a pair of Wellington boots she kept at the back door and ran through the snow to the small shed huddled in the back corner of her garden.At least she didn’t need to keep the beer refrigerated in this weather.
Returning to the kitchen, she pulled down three containers—tall glasses for her and Jiro and a special no-spill cup for her father—from an overhead cupboard, and started to pour them all a beer, listening to the murmur of conversation coming from the living room.Jiro was talking, and for once her father seemed to be listening with rapt attention.Edging sideways, Aurora peered around the door frame, watching the two men as they talked.Jiro was waving his hands around in animation, his face in profile as he sat at the end of the couch nearest to Karl.Every now and then he would unconsciously push that wayward lock of hair up his forehead and away from his eyes.She could only see the back of Fader’s head, but he was nodding enthusiastically as Jiro spoke.He probably understood half of what he was saying, but that didn’t seem to matter.
Her father had ignored his early-onset Parkinson’s symptoms for a very long time.She’d only found out after he moved in with her that they’d first started in his early forties, but it wasn’t until almost five years ago that he’d finally admitted something was wrong.It would be his sixty-second birthday early in the new year, just after Christmas.Most men of that age were still considered just out of their prime, but Karl was on a steep downward spiral.It was his lack of money, however, that’d finally forced him to reach out to his daughters.The bank had foreclosed on the property he’d bought in Malmö with their mother’s money because he hadn’t honored any mortgage payments in nearly a year.The money was all gone, he said.
He’d gone to see Astrid first—who had remained living in Malmö—telling her his woeful tale of how he would soon need to get around in a wheelchair, peddling his usual truckload full of guilt and telling her it was her obligation as a daughter to look after him.His relationship with Astrid had remained sporadic at best, only visiting her once or twice in the past three years, even though they both lived in the same town.But Astrid lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, and it would’ve been hell on earth if she’d had to take her father.So she’d called Aurora, crying down the phone, almost hysterical as she relayed their father’s plight.
What choice had Aurora had?
She hated that their father had practically ignored his two daughters ever since their mother had died, stating that it’d been Karin’s choice to have kids, and now he was free of all burdens.But when it became obvious he could no longer cope on his own, he expected them to come running; it was their duty as good Swedish daughters.He was such a fucking hypocrite.Add to that, Aurora had moved to Gothenburg on the day she’d turned eighteen, three weeks after her mother had died, just to get away from him, and she wondered how he had the gall to even ask.But ask he had, and she couldn’t let Astrid bear the burden.So she’d agreed.And now she found herself trapped in a cycle of never-ending regret, guilt and recriminations.She had no life of her own now; all her personal time was taken up caring for Karl.
But it was the guilt that ate at her the most.The doctor had warned her that Parkinson’s wasn’t just a disease that affected the physical body of a person.It had many mental implications as well.Top of the list being depression, because as the person became less able to do things for themselves, it could often lead to someone drowning in misery, turning on their carers as an outlet for their emotions.The doctor had warned that she would need to show more compassion and understanding as the disease progressed.But she found this part hard.Whenever her father wallowed in self-pity, bemoaning his life now trapped in a wheelchair, and perhaps soon losing the capacity to stand or even feed himself, all she could think about was the beatings he’d handed out when she was a child.Although his features had sagged and become sallow, she could still remember the look on his face as he hit her with his belt, the hard lines contorted with fury as he blustered about how ungrateful a child she was.And it was exactly the same now when he confronted her.His face was lined with indignant aggression, as if the world owed him something and he was going to take his pound of flesh out on her.She could find no sympathy in her heart for him.Which was when the guilt took over.He was her Fader, and he was sick and in need of help.She was his daughter.How could she still hate him so much?Time didn’t seem to have healed any wounds.
Aurora finished pouring the beers——then plastered a smile on her face and took all three into the living room.Setting the cup down on the small table next to her father, she said, “A special treat because we have a guest.”She couldn’t very well exclude him, but she would make sure this was the only one he had.Handing Jiro his glass, she took a seat next to him.
“Thanks.”Jiro clinked his glass against hers and then turned and waited patiently as Karl picked his up in a shaking hand and slowly brought it to meet theirs.
It was only then Aurora noticed that, for the first time in months, the habitual scowl had lifted from Karl’s face.He was actually smiling, and Aurora was a little taken aback.She’d always known that Karl preferred the company of men.Whenever he’d been in a foul mood, he’d loudly reiterated to Aurora that he wished she’d been born a boy.It was one more of Aurora’s disappointing flaws that she could do nothing about; not in his eyes anyway.One more reason she’d failed to live up to his expectations.But she hadn’t realized how much Karl’s personality changed in the company of another man.She’d been worried he might’ve been jealous she’d brought a boyfriend home.But as soon as she’d identified him as afriendonly, Karl had jumped at the chance to talk to a realmanfor once.
Perhaps tonight would not be as unbearable as she’d first thought.
CHAPTER SIX
JIRO JERKED AWAKE, confusion clouding his mind for many moments before he finally worked out where he was.In Aurora’s spare bedroom.She’d been kind enough to let him stay in her house.And he’d accepted her offer gladly.Until he’d found out she was caring for her sickly father, and then he was mortified that he’d encroached on her household.Shame flooded through him all over again at the thought that not only had he been mean to her when she was doing her best to help, but then he’d taken advantage of her kind nature and invaded the sanctity of her family matters.He peered out the tiny window, trying to figure out what time it was, but it was still pitch black outside, leaving him no clue as to whether it was the middle of the night or not.
He was just about to reach for his phone when it buzzed from the bedside table right next to his ear.The sound reminded him of what had awakened him in the first place.Someone was trying to get in touch.Sitting up, he groped around in the dark until he had his phone in his hand, but he had to squint his eyes a couple of times before he could make out who the caller was.
Taro.
