‘Oh, right.’ He fumbles his glass and his cane, puts down the glass, finally manages to seat himself.
‘Harris, if Dad comes back, he’s not gonna arrest you or anything.’ I smile. ‘We’re just having a cold drink in the kitchen.’
‘Sure.’ He blushes, makes a snorting grin at himself. ‘Yeah, sorry. I’m just more used to dealing with your dad when he’s in uniform on the other side of the desk.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘Right. Anyway…’ He searches for another topic of conversation. ‘Your family’s always lived here, you said?’
I nod. ‘I grew up here. But it’s just been Dad and me since Mum died.’
‘Oh.’ He looks directly at me, blinks. ‘Shit, that was rude. I’m sorry –’
‘It’s okay. It was four years ago. Aneurysm.’ I say it casually, like I don’t think about Mum every day. ‘She moved here from Mildura – I mean, her family is still up that way. I still see a lot of my grandma, and my aunt’s family. Dad’s family are sort of scattered, mostly in Queensland, so…’
‘That’s good,’ he says. ‘I mean, it’s good you’ve got some rellies around.’
‘My dotty nanna,’ I say, grinning. ‘Yeah, she keeps in touch a lot. They’re her saris, hanging up in my room. Old ones, from when she was my age.’
‘So your mum was from…’
‘India, yeah. From the Punjab, originally – that’s in the north. She and her sister came as students, and they brought my nanna over. How about you, you don’t have any grandparents here?’
‘Nah.’ He rubs at a dribble of condensation on his glass. ‘No idea about that. Could be in Adelaide, could be gone. Never really knew ’em.’
‘Oh.’
He shrugs. ‘It’s okay. Don’t miss what you never had, right?’
‘Right. I guess.’
‘Anyway,’ he says again, eyes skittering towards my face, ‘I’ve been meaning to say thanks. For helping me out with staying at Westie’s. For the car –’
‘Well, that was Nick,’ I point out. ‘He’s been wanting to offload that car for a while.’
‘Yeah, but… You looked out for me. In the hospital.’ He takes another quick sip of juice. ‘I just wanted to say thanks.’
I shrug and smile. ‘That’s okay, but come on. I mean, that’s what I do. That’s my job.’
‘Not finding people places to live. That’s not part of your job.’
‘I did it cos I wanted to,’ I confess. ‘You wanted to get out of your dad’s place, right?’
He lifts one shoulder. ‘Yeah, I kinda had to.’
‘Now you’ve got a good place. Barb’s happy cos you’re keeping your appointments, Westie’s happy cos you’re helping him out –’
‘I dunno how I’m helping him out. I’m just taking up space on his couch, I’m not even paying rent…’ Harris’s eyes zero in on my face – goddamnit, Ihaveto stop blushing, I’m giving everything away – which is when his expression changes. ‘Shit. Amie, did you pay my rent money? What the hell?’
‘It’s not rent.’ I fight against the blood in my cheeks, make my voice firm. ‘It’s just a few bucks for groceries, Harris. Would you have knocked Mark back if I told you?’
He scrubs his face with one hand. ‘I fucking can’t believe you did that.’
‘Hey, forget it. It’s no big deal, and I reckon Mark enjoys the company. Like I said before, everyone’s happy.’
‘It’s all gravy.’ He makes a humourless laugh, shakes his head at the tabletop. ‘Yeah, that makes it sound easy, doesn’t it? Some kind of easy simple thing.’
I’m not sure I like the sound of that laugh. It seems too lost, too helpless. ‘Harris, what is it?’
