Private Lives

5



Matthew’s heart sank the moment he saw Larry’s new wife Loralee.

Wearing denim hot pants and jewelled flip-flops, the tall blonde ran up to the hospital ward’s reception desk and immediately began shouting.

‘Where is my husband? Take me to him at once.’

Call security, thought Matthew, taking a sip of the coffee he had just got from the drinks machine.

Although it had been over twenty-four hours since his father’s heart attack, it was the first time that Loralee had visited the hospital. She had had to fly back from Mexico, where she had been on boot camp apparently trying to shift the excess weight she had gained on their month-long honeymoon.

Although the past day had been emotionally fraught, Matthew was glad that he had dealt with it alone. He had only met Loralee on two previous occasions, but he had quickly assessed that the fourth Mrs Larry Donovan was cut from the exact same cloth as the previous two. Selfish, grasping, young and above all, ambitious. She had been openly furious when Larry had announced his plans for passing the business to Matthew. ‘Underhand, scheming little shit,’ were the words she had used, if he remembered correctly. Obviously Loralee had had other plans for Larry’s money.

Now he braced himself as the receptionist pointed in his direction.

‘Hello, Loralee,’ he said.

‘What the hell’s been going on?’ she said, thumping her Chanel quilt bag on to the seat next to him.

Matthew tried to control himself. He hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours and was tired, hungry and drained. The last thing he needed right now was a confrontation.

‘Was he drinking?’ she snapped. ‘Did you let him drink? Did you upset him?’

‘Lovely to see you too,’ said Matthew.

‘Cut the shit, Matthew,’ she replied, narrowing her blue eyes. ‘You knew he had high blood pressure.’

‘I didn’t, actually,’ said Matthew tartly. ‘We haven’t even exchanged Christmas cards for about a decade, let alone medical histories.’

‘So what happened?’

‘Look, we were having lunch and he keeled over.’

‘Just like that? I don’t think so.’

‘Well, yes, he had been drinking. You know what he’s like.’

‘Yes, I do,’ said Loralee. ‘I know my husband very well and I know he’s promised to cut down on his drinking. He must have been agitated.’

Matthew looked away guiltily.

‘I knew it!’ said Loralee. ‘You had a row, didn’t you?’

He resented Loralee’s implication that he had somehow deliberately brought on his father’s heart attack, even if he had spent the last day accusing himself of the same thing. If only he hadn’t given his dad such a hard time, if only he hadn’t let him drink so much, if only he’d said no to going to lunch; every ‘if only’ possible had crossed his mind from the moment he had got into the ambulance to the time the doctors had finally told him that Larry was going to be all right. He inhaled deeply, the sterile hospital smell filling his throat.

‘There was a heated conversation, yes,’ he admitted. ‘More of a legal debate really. But Loralee, from what the doctors were saying, he’s had some heart problems before. Honestly, I had no idea about the high blood pressure.’

‘And would that have made any difference?’ she sneered. Matthew noticed with detachment just how white and even her teeth were.

‘Of course it would have made a difference. I don’t want anything to happen to him, he’s my father.’

Loralee laughed mirthlessly.

‘Is he? When it suits you, when there’s something in it for you.’

The words stung. ‘You mean the partnership? Don’t be ridiculous. It was Larry who got in touch with me, not the other way around.’

‘You expect me to believe that? Rather convenient, isn’t it; just when your company is about to go belly up, along comes Daddy out of the blue to offer you the partnership.’

‘I don’t know what you’re implying, but . . .’

‘I’m not implying anything, Matty,’ she said sarcastically. ‘I’m stating it as fact. You jumped in and took advantage of a sick old man you don’t give a shit about.’

‘Loralee, listen . . .’ he said, pulling himself up to his full six-foot-four-inch height. He had a rower’s build, honed on the River Cam at university, and could look pretty intimidating when he wanted to be.

‘No, you listen,’ she hissed, lowering her voice so they couldn’t be overheard. ‘I love your father. I want what’s best for us. You’ve had nothing to do with him for the past twenty-five years and he’s been fine, absolutely fine. Then the second you come back into his life, he ends up almost dead.’

Her words had an unsettling ring of truth. He looked back into the private hospital room where his father lay, pale, weak, the irrepressible life force drained out of him. How could a man who had always been such a towering presence seem so small and meek in his hospital bed? He was glad Larry was sleeping. He would hate the feeling of being like that.

If only I hadn’t accepted the partnership.

Matt wasn’t a doctor. He had no idea if their argument had directly contributed to the heart attack. But it was inevitable that their working relationship was always going to be tense and destructive. There were clearly too many emotions – guilt, resentment – for it to be anything else. He knew he should have turned the offer down; for years he had wanted to punish his father, and rejecting Larry’s offer would have been a lethal way to do it. But he had taken the partnership for other, selfish reasons, and look where it had got them.

‘We’ve had a difficult relationship, that’s true,’ he said, feeling his cheeks turn red and angry. ‘But don’t dare say I don’t give a shit about him. I’ve been by his bedside for twenty-four hours. I’ve had no sleep because he’s my dad and of course I care what happens to him. Now can we stop this bickering, because it’s not helping and in the scheme of things it doesn’t matter.’

Loralee looked away and was silent for a few moments. When her eyes reconnected with his, they were glistening with tears.

‘Look. I’m sorry if I flew off the handle, but this is very stressful for me.’ Her voice wobbled. Her show of emotion caught him by surprise and he instantly softened.

‘I know. I’m sorry too. Come on, why don’t I take you down there?’

‘No, it’s fine. How is he?’

Matthew shook his head.

‘He’s sleeping. And I could do with some fresh air.’

She looked down the corridor nervously.

‘How is he?’

‘Don’t worry, the doctors say he’ll be fine.’

Loralee’s eyes searched his.

‘I feel awful not being there for him, but I got the first flight I could.’

Matthew nodded.

‘He’ll just be glad to see you now.’

She touched his arm, stroking it. Her hand lingered long enough for him to think there was something traitorous in her gesture.

‘Thanks, Matthew,’ she said. ‘I think we need to be friends, don’t we?’

He nodded, dismissing his paranoia. His father’s heart attack had scared him, shocked him into realising there was something worth salvaging in their relationship. It was a time for being open and forgiving. Not cynical and suspicious.

‘Sure. Friends,’ he said slowly, turning and walking out into the warm summer air.