to feel overwhelmed. You guys have been dealt a shitty hand.”
He shrugged a shoulder, still not meeting her gaze.
She imitated him, one eyebrow cocked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Finally he looked at her. “There are plenty of people worse off. People in the same situation with money problems and other things going on. In a lot of respects we’re bloody lucky.”
“So? Is that supposed to make it easier to watch your father disappear before your very eyes?”
“No.” He said it heavily, resignedly.
She led him into the living room and waved him into the nearest armchair.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I told you, nothing. It was just a lot harder than I thought it would be. And I thought it would be pretty damned hard.”
He sat on the edge of the chair, his elbows braced on his knees. Mel sank onto the arm of the opposite chair.
“How was it harder?”
He shrugged impatiently, as though he was irritated by her questions and her pushing, but after a moment he started talking. “It was okay until we started talking about late stage. I don’t know how much you know about Alzheimer’s…”
“Not a lot. I know there are seven stages.” She’d done a few internet searches since he’d told her about his father’s condition.
“Then you know more than a lot of people. Late stage is also called stage seven. By then, the patient can’t speak, can’t walk, can’t sit up or even hold their head up unassisted. Facial expressions disappear, except for grimaces. They need help going to the bathroom, getting clean, eating—” His voice quavered and he pressed the bridge of his nose again.
After a long moment he dropped his hand and started talking again. “Late-stage patients need twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week care, but right from the start Mom has been determined to take care of Dad at home. The way she sees it, the house can be fitted with everything they’ll need, and we can hire agency nurses and caregivers to support Mom. It’s completely doable, and it’s what she wants.”
Mel had a feeling she knew where this was going. “What about your father?”
“He wants to go into a home. He’s even picked one out. He doesn’t want to be a burden. Doesn’t want my mother’s final memories of him being changing his adult diaper or wiping spit off his chin.”
“What did your mother say to that?”
“Honestly? I’ve never seen her so angry. She told him that it was her marriage, too, and that this was happening to both of them. And that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she let someone else care for him. She said that she didn’t care about shit or spit, she cared about him, and she was going to be there with him to the bloody end because she loved him.” Flynn’s eyes were shiny with tears as they met hers. “That’s almost a direct quote, by the way.”
She could see the pride in his gaze, along with the pain. “She sounds pretty cool, your Mom.”
“She’s awesome.”
“So, who won?”
His smile was grim. “No one. Dad got upset. He said that if this was the last chance he had to make decisions, the least we could do was respect them. Mom told him that just because he was sick didn’t mean he got to rule the world. We finally agreed to have a timeout so they could both consider each other’s point of view.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“Mom will win. I think in his heart my father wants her to. The thing is, he loves her too much to want to be a burden.”
Mel blinked away the sudden warmth of tears. It was all too, too sad. When her vision was clear again, she saw Flynn was watching her, a frown on his face.
“I should go. You’re busy. I didn’t meant to show up out of nowhere like this.”
She’d seen him backtrack like this before and understood that he was embarrassed about needing to talk about his feelings. Instinct had bought him here, but pride was about to drive him away.
Men. Sometimes they really drove her crazy.
“Are we friends or not?” she demanded.
He looked arrested.
“Because friends don’t make a run for it when there’s a working bee in process,” she continued.
She tossed him her work gloves. He caught them before they slid down his belly to the ground.
“And friends offer each other a shoulder when it’s needed and don’t make a federal case out of it.”
He eyed her for a moment. She would have given a lot