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I make us coffee and follow her instructions as she guides me through loading sausages and bacon into the oven, while she sets the table. When we are done we sit at the table, sipping our coffees in a comfortable silence with each other.
‘So, what’s it like living with my daughter?’
‘Annoyingly challenging.’
Dahlia Mason tries to hold it together, but can’t help herself. She bursts out laughing. ‘I love your honesty.’
‘She’s a nice girl, she’s just sad all the time. I know she and that Jasper guy were in love or whatever, but she has to find a way to move on.’
‘Did you just say in “love or whatever”?’ She chuckles.
‘Oh, don’t you start. I get called promiscuous at least once a week by your daughter.’
‘You’ve never been in love?’
‘Nope. It’s too much hard work and not worth the pain or the chains. Unless, of course, like MrMason, I’m lucky enough to find the one person that I’d gladly spend every day with.’ It’s a loaded statement and she catches it.
‘You better not be flirting with me, young man.’
‘I’ve seen your husband. I’m doing everything in my power not to.’
She laughs. ‘I’d hold that position with Ariella too. She’s the true love of his life. He guards her ferociously.’
‘There’s absolutely no chance of that. Your daughter is lovely, but she lives in fantasyland. She has zero life skills and her way of coping is just to hide or be overly nice. Even when you poke her enough to make her blow her lid, it’s back on seconds later, as if nothing has happened. She dangerously radiates that “save me” energy, but when you get close enough you realise she’s no pushover.’
‘I’m glad she’s moved in with you.’
‘That’s the opposite of what I expected you to say.’
‘Unfortunately, real life is hurtling up fast to meet Ariella and she’s worryingly unaware; so I was also going to ask you, if it isn’t too much bother, to do everything in your power, as her friend, to try to soften the blow wherever you can. Think you can do that for me?’
‘I can try. She keeps her cards pretty close to her chest.’
‘Yeah. She’s not a big sharer.’
‘I’ve got to ask; what’s with the showering?’
‘She feels safe there. She started having anxiety attacks when she was about ten. She still has them occasionally and showering helps. That’s where she thinks, cries, rejuvenates, celebrates and calms herself down. The water drowns out the noise and walls keep everyone out. It’s her sacred spot.’
I am surprised Dahlia is sharing this all with me and it feels good. From the moment I saw her, she seemed to wield an inexplicable power over me. I am pretty sure that if she asked me to hide a body, I’d call a guy who knows a guy. It is nice, sitting in the kitchen, flooded with the light from the rising sun, cooking breakfast and getting to know each other. I could stay here for as long as she wants, chatting and laughing. She opens up about herself, about growing up in the American South, and shares funny family stories, while radiating maternal kindness and mischief in equal parts. When she asks about my family I tell her everything. The bad, the ugly and the downright horrific.
‘I’m adopting you,’ she declares when I am done, and in one sentence I feel wanted. That belief lasts until Hugh Mason comes down to breakfast and the mission to eject me is initiated. I see his joy when he succeeds and his sorrow when Ariella decides to come with me.
‘Your family makes everyone else’s look dysfunctional,’ I tease Ariella as I flop on the couch in the living room.
She laughs freely and I see Dahlia Mason’s features all over her face.
‘You should laugh more often, it suits you. You’ve been walking around here like you’re about to throw yourself out of the window. It’s time to stop.’
‘Thanks. Tea? Maybe you could take a shower while I make it,’ she hints from the kitchen.
‘Wow, point taken. You’re not disappearing, are you?’
She nods. ‘Lots of work.’
‘Do it in the living room. I have work too, and many questions about last night.’
‘Okay…’ she agrees, unsure.
