The Mother's Promise(74)

“If you think that’s funny, get this! He drops me off here, then goes to the pub on the corner and gets loaded. We usually share a cab home!”

Now he looked like he wasn’t sure if he was meant to laugh or not. But Alice was laughing so much, he joined in. “Family,” she said. “Who’d have ’em.”

“So what kind of cancer does your aunt have?” she asked when the laughter died down.

“Breast,” he said, after glancing at her quickly and finding her still dozing. “But they caught it early. Her prognosis is good. Yourself?”

“Ovarian. Stage three.”

A cloud passed over his face.

“No, it’s not great,” Alice admitted. “But it could be worse. I could be … trampled by a herd of elephants. Or dragged through a town square by my feet.”

He chuckled.

“Hung, drawn and quartered,” she continued. “Tarred and feathered!”

By the time she was finished he was laughing helplessly and so was Alice. It felt fantastic to laugh with another adult. A normal non-drunk male adult.

She kept talking.

*

After what only seemed like minutes, Iris came over and unhooked her IV bag.

“You’re good to go now, Alice,” she said.

“Already?”

“Can you call Paul and tell him to come up?”

“Paul doesn’t have a phone. But it’s all right. I know where to find him.”

“Well,” Iris said, shaking her head. “I really don’t know what to do. I need to release you to a person.”

This was a first. Alice had never had to be released to a person before. Besides, Iris knew all about Paul. She had an uncle, she’d told Alice last time, who was the same way. At previous sessions she’d been happy for Alice to head on downstairs to find him.

“Perhaps if someone could take you to him?” Iris said, glancing around.

“Can I help at all?” Andrew said.

“Oh, Andrew, would you?” Iris exclaimed. “Alice just needs someone to deliver her to her brother.”

She met Alice’s eye. Oh, Iris. You naughty, naughty thing.

“I’d be happy to,” Andrew said. Which was exactly what Iris was banking on.

Iris waved a little too brightly as they walked away. Alice made a mental note to thank her later. But in the elevator, alongside a couple of nurses and an old lady in a hospital-issue dressing gown, conversation suddenly dried up between Alice and Andrew. A few potential topics crossed Alice’s mind but she couldn’t seem to project any. She, as Zoe would have said, literally choked. (A stupid saying, Alice thought, because if she literally choked, she’d be dead. If they had to specify, why not say figuratively choked?) The elevator stopped on every floor—one person off, one on. Alice became very aware that soon this lovely little encounter would be over.

With one floor to go, they were alone. Alice knew she had to act fast. But to do what? All she knew was that she had enjoyed today. And she didn’t want it to end.

“Andrew?” Alice said, and when he turned to her, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him, quickly, on the lips. She didn’t know who was more startled—she or Andrew. Mercifully, in the very next moment, the doors opened.

“Thanks for escorting me down,” Alice said, and burst through the doors.

“Wait!” Andrew called.

Reluctantly, Alice turned.

“I … promised Iris I’d hand you over to your brother,” he said.

Alice scanned the foyer. Through the glass she saw the back of Paul’s oval head as he slumped against the wall outside. Always a class act, her brother.

“There he is.” Alice pointed vaguely. “Anyway, nice to meet you. You’d better get back to your aunt.”

He nodded uncertainly. Alice had well and truly bewildered him.

“Sorry,” she said. “About that. I needed to know that I still had it in me.”

He smiled. “You do.”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then finally, he turned and walked away.

Alice watched as he headed back to the elevator. When he turned to face her he was still smiling. And when Alice skipped out of the foyer toward her drunk brother, so was she.





55

Sonja’s gaze had been fixed on the glass door of the diner for ten minutes when Agnes finally walked in. It had been years since she had seen her sister. Apart from a few more gray hairs, she looked the same. Sonja stood to greet her, but Agnes’s gaze continued right past her.

“Agnes!”

“Sonja?” Agnes’s jaw dropped. “I would never have recognized you.”

Sonja had chosen a diner in the neighborhood where they’d grown up, thinking it would be a) convenient for Agnes, and b) a comfort to Sonja. The former might have been true but the latter was not. In fact, Sonja doubted she’d ever felt more out of place.

Agnes crossed the floor slowly and slid into the booth opposite her. There was no hug. No kiss. Not even a handshake. And although Sonja hadn’t expected any of these things, she felt a little disappointed.

“What happened to your face?” Agnes asked, timidly, after a few silent moments.

It took Sonja a moment to realize what she meant. “Oh. Botox.”