‘I’m not changing the subject, I’m working. How’s your appetite, Gray? Are you managing to chew your food?’
‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ he told her. ‘Nothing gets in the way of me and food. Not even a little stroke.’
‘Hello?’ I waved a hand to catch her attention.
‘And you’ve been taking all your medications when you’re supposed to?’ she asked him.
He nodded. ‘Eleanor makes sure of that.’
‘Good.’ She nodded and made some more notes.
‘Youcan hear me, right?’ I addressed my father. ‘I haven’t suddenly gone invisible?’
‘I can see and hear you just fine,’ he confirmed. ‘I think she’s ignoring you.’
‘Yeah, I get that feeling too.’ I walked over to the large occasional chair by the wall and took a seat, crossing one ankle over the other knee and leaning back with my hands behind my head. ‘I’m not going anywhere though, so she’ll have to answer eventually.’
Mae turned to glare at me. ‘I saw the message, OK?’ she hissed quietly.
‘What message?’
‘The one you got when you dropped me off.’
I frowned, trying to remember.
‘From someone named Anna,’ she clarified. ‘She seemed annoyed with you.’
‘Ah.’ Understanding dawned. ‘You saw that message?’
She nodded. ‘I did.’
‘And you thought it was from a wife?Mywife?’
‘Are you telling me it wasn’t?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you. The message was from Anna.’
She stared at me.
‘Anna is my sister. That night, the night we met. That was the night my father had his stroke. She’d been calling me and I hadn’t picked up because I was with you and I thought she was just mad at me for running out on a family dinner. But that angry message you saw was her telling me to get in touch because our father had just been rushed to the hospital.’
She turned to look at him.
‘It’s true,’ he said helpfully.
‘Oh.’
‘That’s it? Oh?’
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘I can’t believe you thought I’d lied to you about being single.’
‘Can we maybe do this another time?’ she asked meekly. ‘I’m working and this is incredibly unprofessional.’
She was quiet and looked almost on the verge of tears.
‘Of course,’ I said quickly. ‘I’ll just say one more thing though, if I may?’
