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‘So how’ve you been?’ he asked. ‘Anything interesting been happening?’
Kim smiled. He knew exactly what had happened to her, and she could understand why he had happened along to her home. He had been a part of every traumatic time in her life.
‘I got help,’ she said, looking down at her feet.
‘Ha. The only person who thinks you got help is the psychologist that was treating you. I’m prepared to wager that you paced yourself over the treatment and got gradually better over the allotted period. You played the poor sucker like a well-tuned violin.’
Ted definitely knew her as well as anyone. Her silence was his answer.
‘So you’ve had no help through the whole Symes ordeal or in dealing with the loss of your mother?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay,’ he said, before shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee.
Kim wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but it didn’t sound good.
‘Wanna sit outside?’ she asked. Dusk wasn’t far away, but the day had been mild for late October.
‘Lead the way,’ he said, grabbing his coffee.
Most evenings she struggled with the confines of the house. Her happy place had always been the garage, but it didn’t have that role any more. Now it was to mend her body.
They both sat at her small bistro table, and Barney appeared with his ball.
Kim threw it. He ran off happily.
‘I understand your mother passed away while you were in the coma,’ he said, folding his hands and resting them on his stomach.
‘Don’t wanna talk about it.’
‘The coma you were in following your brief demise at the hands of a madman who literally beat you to death. Not much to unpack there.’
‘Don’t wanna talk about that either.’
‘Thank the Lord. I’m in my early seventies and I haven’t got long enough left.’
Kim laughed.
‘Did you know how long your mother had left?’ he asked.
‘You did hear what I said about not wanting to talk?’ she asked, throwing the ball again for Barney.
‘Yeah, report me.’
Ted was no longer working so he had her there.
‘I just don’t—’
‘Look, my therapist powers don’t work beyond my property boundary. I’m not trying to analyse you. I’m just trying to be a friend.’
Kim relaxed. ‘Yeah, I knew how long and I’d already decided not to visit her, and before you start, I know your thoughts on that one.’
He took a sip of coffee. ‘If we were back at the house and I had access to my superpowers, I’d have said it would have been cathartic to go see her regardless of how it would have ended. As your friend, I’d have advised against it.’
‘How do you do that?’
‘What?’
