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And coming up with no ideas
•••
Stuart Parkes
14:51
But I miss you
•••
Stuart Parkes
14:53
And I’m going to figure it out
THIRTY-THREE
Gabby didn’t go for her usual morning nap on Ada’s last day and when they were discussing going to the shops to buy lunch she said she’d come with them. Diana said, ‘Oh darling, it’s OK, you don’t need to do that,’ and Gabby said, ‘Please, I am so stir-crazy.’ But it turns out deciding to go somewhere with a newborn creates a whole mission. By the time they had packed Gabby’s car with nappies and cloths and three changes of clothes for the baby and one change of clothes for Gabby and Hank had checked Orion’s car seat was secure (‘For the millionth time,’ Gabby said apologetically, though Ada noticed she was watching pretty carefully) and Orion had got a fresh nappy and then Gabby had fed him and he’d needed another nappy and then everyone was hungry so Ada quickly made them ham and cheese sandwiches and they ate them standing up in the kitchen and then Orion needed another nappy change – by that time, the sun was higher in the sky than it usually was when they left.
Hank drove and Gabby sat in the back seat of the car with Orion. Ada looked out the back window of their rental and saw Hank’s car crawling down the street, fading back even before they hit the freeway. When they got to the grocery store, Ada and her parents sat in the car for twenty minutes waiting for the new parents to arrive. At first, they tried sitting with the doors open but the air was so hot that they resorted to closing everything up and turning on their air conditioning. Richard casually said that he could see how Americans were destroying the planet, their cars were basically their homes, and Diana started to disagree with him out of loyalty to Gabby’s chosen home and then said, ‘They really should have more trains, though.’
Eventually Hank pulled in and parked near them and he got out of the car but Gabby stayed behind because, as he explained, Orion was asleep in his seat. Diana and Richard went over to look at him and, after a pause, Ada followed them, the tarmac warm even through her canvas shoes. They looked through the back window at Gabby looking at Orion who was looking at nobody and Richard said, ‘Will they be too hot in there?’ and Hank, looking slightly affronted, said, ‘The air is on.’ Then he quickly rearranged his face into a smile. They headed into the store and Hank touched Ada’s arm and said, ‘Don’t worry about cooking tonight, we can pick something up, you shouldn’t have to go out of your way on your last night.’ So Ada trailed behind him as he picked up formula and apples and wondered why she’d come.
They packed the boots and headed to the beach but Ada was feeling slightly spotty behind the eyes from so much time in the overheating car. When they pulled in, Gabby eased Orion out of the car seat and strapped him to Hank in a complicated carrier that they had mastered over the last two weeks. Hank almost tiptoed towards the sand, holding a parasol over the sleeping infant. He looked incongruously dainty and Ada felt a rush of something warm towards this man who she realised, for the first time, would be in her life forever. Even if he and Gabby broke up, he was the father of her nephew and she would never ever be rid of him and that felt OK.
Ada headed straight to the water, sensing that this might be a quick visit, and tried to quash the resentment she felt. Because this was her last swim, in so long, and no one seemed to appreciate that. Her parents would be back in Sydney soon and Siesta Key would be here waiting for Orion to grow up on. Or maybe he wouldn’t because maybe her sister was going home.
Ada swam out, moving strongly, kicking frenetically. She was doing a casual sort of freestyle but holding her head under for longer than she should, taking breaths sparingly, letting her chest start to hurt a little before turning her cheek. When she hit deep water, she stopped and looked at her family. Her father was swimming too, but staying closer to shore, and Hank was hanging back with Orion in a small patch of shade near the edge of the sand. Gabby and Diana were sitting with their feet in the water and Ada vaguely remembered Gabby saying she couldn’t have a bath until her stitches healed. So she probably couldn’t swim, either.
Ada drifted for a precious few minutes until she heard her mother calling her name. She looked back to shore and saw them gesturing for her to come in, so she started to swim, more slowly this time, imagining them waiting for her, imagining refusing to get out. But she hit the sand eventually like she always did and Gabby said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want to cut your swim short, we need to go back but I told Mum and Dad you could stay.’ Richard was drying himself and said, ‘But it’s your last afternoon together!’ and Gabby and Ada looked at each other and Ada didn’t know what she saw in her sister’s face. She wrapped her towel around her and sat in the back of the car, her hair dripping on the hot leather seat.
They got back to the yellow house and Gabby took Orion away to feed and Ada showered and then didn’t know what to do with herself if she wasn’t cooking dinner. She pulled her book of theory out of her bag and opened to a chapter about triggering sense memory to enhance your acting and put the book away again. Hank found her sitting in the courtyard with her green cotton dress pulled up to her underwear, letting the sun warm her legs.
‘Not going to have much of this back in London I’m guessing?’ Hank said, gesturing to her glowing shins and she was suddenly aware of the hair that she’d let grow out there though he gave no indication he noticed or was bothered by it.
She said, ‘We might have a little summer left – though, yeah, not much sun,’ and Hank said, ‘I’m going to pick up dinner, want to come with me?’ There was nothing she could pretend to be doing in this house that wasn’t hers so she stood up and followed him out.
