“You’re heading out?” Daisy asked.
“It’s Wednesday,” Jonathan said. “He’s got to go visit his stepfather.”
“Oh, that’s right. Could I come with you?”
“Uh, sure,” I said, because she’d caught me completely off guard. Why the hell did she want to come with me? Not that I wouldn’t mind her company, but it seemed like an odd request . . . until I remembered that she thought I was doing this because I actually cared about Pete. “It might not be the most exciting thing, but . . .”
“I bet it’ll be great,” she said. “Let me just run and use the bathroom.”
“I just talked to Dan,” Jonathan said, “and they’re down at the harbor, waiting for Martin and his group.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I don’t anticipate there being any issues. Weren’t they planning on leaving earlier? I thought I heard something about early afternoon.”
“Yeah, but there was an issue at Logan, something about lost luggage. It’s getting sorted.”
“All right, I’m ready,” Daisy said when she returned.
I tried to ignore the look that Jonathan was giving me as we left. And as we were driving to the Eagle Hollow, I was thinking that “great” might not be the exact term I’d use to describe it, but who knew; maybe it would be.
“He had a stroke,” I said to Daisy as we walked into the facility. “So he can’t actually talk. As far as anyone knows, though, he understands things completely.”
“That must be so hard,” she said. “To lose your ability to speak but to still be able to hear and understand. I can’t even imagine.”
“Well, I’m sure he’ll be glad to meet you. This is his room right here.” I paused before we went in. I hadn’t parked where I normally did; this time I parked in the visitors’ parking area, which wasn’t visible from Pete’s window. I cleared my throat before we went in.
“Hi there, Pete,” I said. “This might surprise you, but I’ve brought a visitor with me. I thought you might like to meet Daisy.”
She walked into the room, a smile on her face. She didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable, and I felt my skin start to crawl as she went over to his wheelchair. My instinct was to shield her from him, but what was he going to do? He couldn’t get up; he couldn’t even speak.
“Very nice to meet you,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “I’m Daisy. That was one of the first things I learned about Ian, that he had a stepfather that he came and still visited, which I thought was really great of him to do.”
Oh, Jesus. She continued to talk, and I tried to keep a straight face. It wasn’t that I was tempted to burst out laughing or anything—it was more like I wanted to cringe. Most people would have been somewhat uncomfortable at having to have a conversation with someone who couldn’t actually respond to what they were saying, but Daisy didn’t seem the list bit bothered. It would appear as though she had missed her calling as a nurse, or maybe a preschool teacher.
I sat down in the other chair and watched Pete watch her. It was clearly a mistake to bring her here, as this was no doubt the highlight of his day, perhaps the highlight of his entire life. A young beautiful woman, focusing all of her attention on him. His eyes shifted over to me for a second, and I just stared at him, hoping he’d get the clue that this wasn’t some sort of kindness on my part. My phone started to vibrate in my pocket, but I ignored it. Daisy kept talking with Pete, talking with him as though he were a participant in the conversation.
“They said it’s probably going to be very humid tomorrow, so you’re lucky you have air conditioning in here,” she said. She looked around the room. “This is a very nice place.”
My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out of my pocket to peek at the screen. Dan. The clock on my phone said that we’d already been here for almost half an hour longer than I usually stayed, so I stood up, touching Daisy’s shoulder. “We better get going,” I said. “I need to take this call from Dan.”
“Why don’t you do that and I’ll sit with Pete a little bit longer,” Daisy said.
“Sure, fine,” I said. “I’ll just be out in the hallway.”
I stepped out into the hall and called Dan back. He answered on the first ring.
“We’ve got a problem.” He did not sound happy.
“What’s up?” I said.
“I’ve been calling and calling. I haven’t been able to get a hold of you or Jonathan! Where the hell have you been?”
“What’s going on?” I could hear a lot of commotion in the background. “Are you on the boat?”
“No, I’m not on the boat because it’s a fuckin mob scene down here.”
“Mob scene? What are you talking about?”
“There’s a shitload of people down here! People that aren’t supposed to be here, I can tell you that much. Martin is furious; I think he wants to call the whole thing off. At the very least, he wants to see you.”