instead. “I’m concerned. Of course I’m concerned! I’m not going to come in, hear that news, say, ‘Oh, hard luck,’ and go take my shower!”
“How does it help anything if you’re frozen and dirty?” I asked. “I’ve had enough of seeing you both ways. Go take care of yourself.”
Her mouth opened, then shut, and she said, “You can’t—”
“Well, yeh,” I said. “I can, in this instance. This is what caring about somebody looks like. Get used to it.” When her mouth opened again, I added, “You might consider that you’d tell me the same thing. You did tell me the same thing, when I had a migraine.”
“That was different,” she said. “I’m a nurse.”
“Well, I’m a … a …”
“Boyfriend,” Iris said. “I’d say. Horrible word, though.”
Mum looked interested and forked up another bite of something. Louise cake, it looked like. Coconut-and-meringue top, jammy middle, cakey bottom. With a dollop of cream on the side for good measure. If Oriana stayed here much longer, I was going to get fat.
Daisy said, “I’m going to take a shower. Not because you told me to. Because I need to. Five minutes. And then we’ll talk.”
“Fine,” I said. “See you then.”
She wanted me to say something more, I could tell. Something worse, so she could fight. I didn’t. I stood there and waited, and in another second, she flounced off. I hadn’t known Daisy could flounce. It looked good. That round little arse in those tiny shorts? Flouncing was definitely a good look. A much better spot to rest my mind than the fury that was trying to overwhelm me.
Fury wouldn’t get the job done. Fury was for later.
Oriana, meanwhile, was fixing me a plate. Vegetable and chicken risotto, heaped into an enormous mound. She shaved some Parmesan on top, added some chopped parsley, and handed me the plate. I said, “Cheers. Looks awesome. Fix Daisy one as well, would you?” and, since there wasn’t anyplace to sit, leaned up against the island and asked Mum, “What exactly? And did you ring the police?”
“Of course,” she said. “They don’t know yet, other than that a window’s broken downstairs. The alarm rang at the fire department. That worked the way it should, anyway. Somebody’s ringing me back once they’ve had a look.”
Another few minutes, when nobody could think of much to say, and during which I ate my risotto. It was excellent. Finally, Daisy reappeared, pulling a dressing gown around herself. It was a raspberry color, and it fit her heaps better than Mum’s had. I was willing to bet she was naked under there, too. She took the plate and fork that Oriana handed her and asked, “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” I said. “You weren’t gone long enough to miss anything.”
“You’ll need to drive up there,” she said. “I wish I could do it for you, because I know how busy you are just now, and it’s my fault anyway, but I can’t cancel my shift, not this late. Not on Friday night. I could go afterwards, though. I’ll be done by nine, which means I’d get there after noon. That isn’t ideal, but …”
Oriana said, “Take my chair, Daisy.”
She didn’t. She was still talking. I set my plate down on the island and held up my hand like a traffic cop, and eventually, she shut up. I said, “Yeh, I’m going to do that. Going to send you into the lion’s den to fight my battles. Where are you going to sleep, in this fantasy, while you supervise the cleanup? Going to snuggle up in my bed again, cozy in the knowledge that Gilead could come back?”
I got some more opening-and-shutting of the mouth, and then she said, “All right, I can see that wouldn’t work.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The phone rang. Mum talked a little, listened, talked some more, and rang off, and I ate some more risotto. Still excellent. Creamy, flavorful rice, tender spring vegetables, roasted chicken with crispy skin.
“What did they say?” Daisy asked, the second Mum’s thumb hit the button.
Mum said, “Not too bad. Fire department’s still there, making sure, but there’s not much to do. There’s a great stone in the middle of the lounge, or a lump of concrete, maybe, and burnt paper all around. Magazines, it looks like. They’re guessing somebody threw the stone, then followed up with the magazines, once the window was broken, and tossed a couple of lit fire starters in there. Fashion magazines. Wedding and fitness magazines, too. They wanted to know if