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‘I’ll make sure he has a bath and eats some food,’ Alex told his sister. ‘And I’ll wash those filthy clothes he’s wearing. Then I’ll do my best to talk to him, see if he’ll try rehab. I have some contacts at the Salvation Army. They have some very good rehab places for alcoholics and addicts.’
‘Oh, that would be wonderful!’ Sarah exclaimed. ‘Thank you, darling brother,’ she added, coming forward to give him a hug, reminding him of that other hug he’d been involved in earlier that morning.
Sarah hurried off, leaving Alex alone with his father and his thoughts.
But he was no longer thinking about his father. He was thinking about Harriet and the danger of having an affair with a woman who was vastly different from his usual type of bed partner. Not only was she older and more intelligent, she was emotionally vulnerable at the moment. Frankly, Harriet was way more emotional that he would ever have imagined.
The risk he would be taking by sleeping with her was also far greater than he’d originally envisaged. What if she fell in love with him? Even worse, what if he fell in love with her? Hell! What in God’s name had he been thinking? Clearly, he hadn’t been thinking, not with his brain, anyway. He’d let his hormones take charge, let them cloud his usual good judgment when it came to matters concerning the opposite sex.
There was only one thing to do. He had to forget living on the edge and put Harriet firmly back into the strictly professional PA box which she’d occupied in his head for the past ten months. He actually would have called her and cancelled the trip up north if it wouldn’t make him seem like a blithering idiot. He was thankful now that they would be staying in that apartment together for only one night. But, to be on the safe side, he’d put a dampener on his hormones by working out at length in the gym during the next two days. He’d also get out of the office as much as he could. There were several building projects he had underway around Sydney which he could visit. Out of sight was out of mind. By Friday morning, he’d have himself firmly under control again.
His father stirred again, this time opening his eyes, blinking blearily at Alex for several seconds before groaning.
‘You’re not going to lecture me again, son, are you?’ he said wearily.
‘No,’ Alex replied in a firm, no-nonsense voice. ‘This time, I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do, and you’re going to do it, whether you like it not.’
‘Am I just?’
‘Look, if you want to kill yourself, then do the decent thing and do it quickly. Just don’t do it slowly in front of your daughter and your grandkids. They deserve better than that.’
‘You don’t understand,’ he blubbered.
‘Yeah, I do. Better than you think. You might not realise this, but Mum’s death affected the whole family, not just you. You think Sarah and I didn’t grieve? We did. But eventually we all moved on, the way Mum would have wanted us to move on.’
His father looked away in shame.
‘It’s not too late, Dad,’ Alex went on, his voice gentler. ‘You can beat this thing if you want to. Sarah’s going to need you when the kids get older. You could be here when she can’t be. Keep an eye on them. Sarah’s been good to you. Time for you to be good back to her. Time for you to step up to the plate and be a man.’
Tears sprung into his father’s tired blue eyes. ‘It’s too late.’
‘It’s never too late,’ Alex insisted. ‘People can change, no matter how old they are. It won’t be easy, but it will work, if you give it a chance. I’ll help you, too, if you let me.’
‘You’re a good son.’
Alex experienced some guilt at this remark. He hadn’t been such a good son. Sarah had been the one who’d shouldered most of the burden of looking after their father. He’d just opened his cheque book. But he vowed to do better in future.
‘All right,’ his father said with a resigned sigh. ‘I’ll give it a go.’
Chapter Seven
HARRIET SET HER alarm for five on Friday morning, having made arrangements with Alex to be at his place at six-thirty.
‘Take a taxi on expenses,’ he’d told her during the very brief appearance he’d made in the office last Wednesday morning, telling her at the same time that he wouldn’t be in at all on the Thursday and that she was to use the extra time she would have to give their website a facelift, something she’d been urging him to do for ages. He didn’t explain any of his absences, as was often the case with Alex. She suspected it had something to do with his family emergency.
