She said “pause,” but her words had a finality to them that terrified me.
She trudged back into her room without closing her door, heaved her bag onto her bed, and started folding her clothes into it. She practically ran to the bathroom, and the sounds of her toiletries being angrily packed clattered toward me. A line of cold sweat trickled down my spine.
My phone rang.Macy. I silenced it.
I stood at the doorway, wanting to go in and knowing I couldn’t. “Please, can we talk?”
“No, Tim. Not right now. I’m too hurt. Too humiliated. Just—”
My phone rang again. This time Amy, but even though I never ignored her calls, I pressed ignore.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “Are you going back to London? Please let me drive you. Tabs, I’ll do anything to make this okay.”
Suddenly, she calmed. “It’s out there, Tim.”
Amy called again. I went to press ignore but fumbled and pressed speakerphone instead.
“I was going to surprise you and bring Mum over to the preview party with us,” Amy said. “But I walked into her flat, and flames were leaping from the stove. Mum was boiling soup on the burner and then Macy came in from outside and had a fit. When the hell were you going to tell me she has dementia, Tim? I’m so furious with you. This is why you’ve been fobbing me off and restricting the time I spend with Mum. Why you are always here when I visit.”
I pressed the speakerphone off and slammed the phone to my ear. “Is Mum okay? Everyone’s okay?”
“No burns. But Mum’s upset and so am I, and Macy is in tears.”
“Thank God no one was injured,” I said. “I’m coming right now.” I pressed off and looked up at Tabs.
“Everyone’s okay?” Tabs asked desperately, her hand clutching her heart. I nodded, and she let out a breath.
She was stock-still, a jersey in her other hand, her face frozen with shock. “You never told Amy. It’s been a week.”
I took a step toward her. “I—”
She lunged for the door and slammed it in my face.
Amy didn’t say a word when she opened the door at Mum’s flat. Apparently, Macy had taken Mum for a walk along the river, while Amy waited to confront me.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Like I said, I walked in and saw flames on the stove. I raced to take the pot off the burner and Macy comes in from hanging up the washing outside. She’s freaking out, I’m freaking out, Mum’s freaking out. After Macy calmed down, she confessed everything. We both feel awful, and I’m angry with you that she’s been asked to keep it from me. After Macy left the room, Mum proceeded to tell me the same story twice. And you know how Mum is about bores who repeat stories. Turns out, the story was about her daughter, but in reality, it was her mother.”
I slumped into a chair at the breakfast table and put my head in my hands. Mum was having a very bad day. I looked up at Amy to indicate for her to continue.
Instead of sitting opposite me, she perched on the edge of the kitchen counter, arms tightly folded. “Then Mum shows me a brochure with a castle on the front and says she’ll be swimming in the pool at Christmastime because it’s heated!”
Shit. How did Mum find that brochure after I’d hidden it in my bedside drawer?
“And I flick through it,” Amy continues, “and lo and behold, it’s a castle half an hour from here that’s been converted into a memory care facility, and the paperwork clipped inside shows you’ve paid the deposit for a suite. The deposit was eye-watering, and then I checked the cost at the back. Tim, you could have bought your own castle with what this costs.” She ground her jaw back and forth. “This place is so expensive, so how on earth can you afford it?”
I started to answer, but she held up a hand.
“Why don’tIknow about any of this?” she asked. “And why have you kept it from me? I’m furious with you, Tim, because I think I know the answer.”
My breathing strained, I rose and paced Mum’s tiny kitchen. No more lies. I had to come clean.
“Ames, I was keeping it from you because I knew you would quit London, head back here, and go back to law because you’d want to chip in. And I didn’t want you to give up on your dreams.”
But now, because of the mess I’d made of this, it was going to happen anyway.
She rolled her head back. “So, you’re making this decision on my behalf because I’m not capable of making those hard decisions for myself?” She nodded at her quad cane propped at her feet.
