All They Need(34)

According to the short conversation he’d had with his mother, his father could have been gone from anywhere between five minutes to over an hour. She’d been in the garden, and it wasn’t until she’d gone inside to use the bathroom that she’d realized he was gone.

Flynn’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. He reminded himself that his parents lived in a leafy, highly affluent neighborhood, so the risk of his father walking into harm’s way was minimal. The odds were good that he hadn’t gone far. It would simply be a matter of combing the nearby streets.

They would find him. Of course they would.

Then they would have to deal with the implications of this incident and what it meant for the future.

His parents had downsized from the family home to their current, more modest house twelve months ago after his father’s initial diagnosis, and his mother had reduced some of her social and charitable activities, but essentially they were still living a normal life together. Obviously, that would have to change if his father could no longer be trusted with an unlocked door.

Flynn sighed. It was inevitable that at some point in the progression of his father’s illness tough decisions would have to be made, but he’d hoped that they’d have a few more years before they had to start curtailing his father’s freedoms.

He was only minutes from his parents’ place when his phone rang. He snatched it up, driving one-handed even though he was probably breaking half a dozen laws.

“We found him,” his mother said. “He went to buy milk, but he thought we were still at the old house and he got confused. I’ve already called the police and told them.” His mother’s voice was thin and worried.

“I’m five minutes away, Mom.”

“Okay. All right.”

He tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and sent up a small prayer to the universe that his father was safe and sound. He pulled into the driveway not long after. His mother opened the door as he walked up the path. She looked pale but calm and he lay a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?”

“I am now. If anything had happened to him…”

“I know.”

He hugged her, then she led him to the conservatory, where his father was ensconced on the window seat, one elbow resting on the sill. He was gazing out into the garden, his face slack, his gaze utterly vacant.

Something hard and painful twisted in Flynn’s chest. His father looked so empty. So absent.

Then his father registered their presence and suddenly his eyes were alive with awareness and intelligence again as he turned toward them.

“Flynn. Your mother told me she called you. I wish she hadn’t.”



“She was worried.”

“I know. But I would have found my way home eventually.”

Flynn didn’t bother arguing with him. He sat next to him on the window seat and his mother drew up a chair at the table.

“When was the last time you saw the specialist?” Flynn asked.

His father made a vague gesture, looking to his mother to answer the question.

“Three months ago.”

“Maybe we should make another appointment,” Flynn suggested.

His father shifted beside him restlessly.

“What’s wrong, Dad? You don’t think so?”

“Whatever you think is best.”

Flynn exchanged glances with his mother. “You get a say, too, Dad.”

His father met his gaze, his own eyes bleak. “He’s not going to tell us anything we don’t already know.” He stood. “I’ve got a headache. I’m going to lie down.”

He left the room without a backward glance. The conservatory was profoundly silent after his exit.

“We need to talk. All of us,” Flynn finally said. “We need to sit down and hammer out what he wants while he can still tell us.”

“I know, but surely it’s not necessary to subject him to that yet?” Her eyes pleaded with him.

“He’s going to deteriorate, Mom. There’s no get-out-of-jail-free card on this—it’s going to happen. And if we don’t take the opportunity to talk now, while he’s still able to rationalize and make decisions, then we’re doing him the biggest disservice of all.”



A single tear slid down her cheek. Flynn stood to go to her but she held up a hand.

“I’m okay.” She took a deep breath, then let it out. “I know you’re right. Of course you’re right. The sooner we hash this out, the better it will be. We’ll all know how things are going to be and we can get on with living.”