Page 47 of Soft Tissue Damage
“I’m sorry, Elena. There’s water everywhere. The spray went all over the living room. The carpets in the bedrooms are soaked. I don’t think anyone’s going to be able to live here for a while.”
Elena looks devastated, and I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She’s about to say something when the elevator opens, and a young woman I guess is Elena’s roommate Alexandra goes to the door to the apartment and grimaces.
“Well, shit.” She turns to Elena. “Are you okay?”
“Not really,” Elena says helplessly. “We can’t live here right now. Everything’s soaked.”
“What a dump. I guess I’m going to my mom’s, even though she’ll drive me crazy.” She looks apologetically at Elena. “Sorry, I wish there was room for you, too.”
Elena rubs her forehead. “It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.”
“Elena’s going to stay with me,” I tell Alexandra.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elena’s head snap up.
Alexandra gives me awho the hell are you?look.
I smile at her. “I’m Leon’s father.”
The young woman brightens. “Oh! Great. You’re all sorted then, Elena. I’ll see you in a few days.” After she grabs a few things from the apartment, she calls the elevator, and waves goodbye to us.
Wet carpet squelches around Elena’s shoes. “You don’t have to offer to have me at your place, Mr. Grant. I don’t want to cause problems between you and Leon. I have two aunts. I can go to them.”
From what I can tell, Elena and her “aunts” are not close. I haven’t found any emails or texts between them. No birthday or Christmas photographs on her phone. Even if they were the most loving aunts in the world, I didn’t do this to watch her walk away from me now.
“I feel responsible for you, Elena. Leon is staying with his mother. You’ll come home with me, Rosie will give you a cuddle, and I’ll make us some dinner. Tomorrow we can figure everything out for you.”
“You’re being too kind to me, Mr. Grant.” She doesn’t say it in the flippant,oh, you’re too kindway that people do. She earnestly means it. I’m being too kind, and she thinks she doesn’t deserve it.
“There’s no such thing as too kind when it comes toyou,” I say firmly. “Is there anything important inside I can get for you? Clothes, toiletries.”
“I still have some things at your house. I’ll be okay for a couple of days.”
“Then let’s go.”
Elena locks up the apartment. In the elevator, I reach for her hand and give her cold fingers a comforting squeeze. She looks at our joined fingers for a moment, and then smiles at me hesitantly.
“Thank you, Mr. Grant.”
“Don’t mention it. Tell me about your aunts. I’ve never heard you mention your family before.”
“It’s complicated. We’re not that close. I have no real family. Nowhere I really belong.”
The sadness in her eyes as she confesses that to me just about breaks my heart.
I turnElena’s access to the baby monitor app off so she can get good rest. While I’m up with Rosie during the night, soothing her back to sleep, I checked the security feed on my phone. Elena was sleeping soundly.
Just after six in the morning, I’m in the nursery with a fractious toddler when Elena appears in the doorway, wrapped in a dressing gown. “Good morning, Mr. Grant.”
“Morning, Elena.” I pace up and down with the crying child in my arms, the picture of a stressed-out single father. “You’re not going to believe this. My nanny just quit. No notice, and my schedule is packed this week.”
“Mrs. Kerr? But she seemed so reliable.”
“I know. The timing couldn’t be worse. One of my clients had a break-in yesterday and the burglars smashed up the system I installed last summer after her ex-husband threatened her life. It’s completely useless, and she’s terrified to be in her home without a working security system. I moved everything around so I could go to her first this morning, but now I’ll have to call her and tell her I can’t make it.”
Elena looks stricken. “Don’t cancel. That poor woman needs your help. I’ll look after Rosie today. If you trust me to.”
“Trust you? Elena, of course I do, and you’d be the reason my client can sleep tonight. But I feel like I’m taking advantage of you being here, and I can’t do that. You’re probably working today.”
