“The spare room’s ready and waiting. I’ll look after her, make sure she gets some sleep.”
“Perfect. Somewhere to sleep it off in peace and quiet.” She abandoned the dishes and walked outside to give Maia a brief, gentle hug. “You feel better soon, love. And if you don’t feel up to it tomorrow, don’t come in. I can call my friend’s daughter, she’s home from uni and can work the odd day here and there for extra cash. It’ll all be fine, you just rest up, okay?”
Maia didn’t argue, not that I expected she would.
“Look after her,” Bridget said to me. “And make sure she has plenty to drink.”
“I will.”
She gave my arm a squeeze on her way back into the kitchen.
“You two are something else,” Maia mumbled, squinting up at me from behind her sunglasses.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said, taking her by the hand and pulling her gently out of her seat. “Come on, I’ve got a cool, dark room with your name on it.”
“I don’t want to be any trouble,” she said, as we walked slowly back to my truck.
“You’re not.”
The short drive to my house was made in virtual silence. I switched off the car radio and cranked up the air-con to cool the cab down. She leant back against the head-rest and pulled the visor down to keep the sun out of her eyes. It brought back distant memories of Emily and the debilitating migraines she suffered three or four times a year.
“Here we are,” I said quietly, parking the truck in the shade of one of the overhanging trees lining my driveway.
“Thanks,” she said, climbing out and closing the door carefully behind her. “I really appreciate this. Sorry I’m not going to be very good company for the next little while.”
“That’s not why I offered you my spare room,” I said, waiting for her to come alongside me before walking with her to the front door. “You can entertain me with stories and songs some other time. For now, just relax and try to sleep it off.”
I unlocked the front door and went straight to the spare room, opening the windows in there and drawing the dark blue curtains, turning the room into a cool, dark cave. I switched the ceiling fan on to the lowest setting as Maia stood watching from the doorway.
“I’ll get you some water,” I said, walking past her. “Just make yourself at home, okay?”
“Thanks.”
I poured her a tall glass of cold water from the fridge, then went into the bathroom, digging around for some over-the-counter painkillers. When I got back to the bedroom, Maia had taken her sunglasses off and was sitting on the bed, looking lost and miserable.
I put the glass of water and the packet of pills on the bedside table. “If you take two of these, they might help.”
She nodded slightly, but didn’t make any effort to move. “Thanks.”
“Come on,” I said gently, picking them up and handing them to her. “They’ll help you sleep, if nothing else. Hopefully, you’ll wake up later feeling better.”
She sighed, but did as she was told, putting the water down on the bedside table again when she’d finished.
“Thank you for this,” she said again, staring up at me blankly, as though everything required far too much effort.
“You don’t need to thank me. Just lie down and get some rest.”
I pulled the door closed behind me and left her to it. The house was like an oven, and I opened the French doors to let the cool breeze in. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, I sat out on the deck overlooking the harbour and drank it.
The harbour was sparkling at high tide, a kayak and a couple of paddle-boards in the distance, making their way towards the river mouth. The afternoon was perfect, and I’d been looking forward to spending the evening with her, but not like this. I wished I could do more to help, but I knew from experience there wasn’t much more to be done except wait it out.
I remember Em once describing migraine pain as “crippling.” Judging by how pale and acquiescent she was, I thought Maia was probably in a position to agree. Sensible genes were useless against migraines, and I hated feeling so helpless. That weird sense of déjà vu hit me again.
Bridget had said she was going to call me to get me to take Maia home. Clearly, she didn’t know Maia was sleeping in her car. Was she deliberately keeping it a secret or had the subject just not come up? I didn’t blame Maia for not divulging it willingly. I doubted she’d have told me about it if I didn’t see the evidence with my own eyes. It was clearly a sore point. One thing was for sure, she couldn’t have slept off a migraine in her car, in this heat.
I took another sip of beer. Whatever reason she had for living in her car, it wasn’t good enough. There was no need for it, not with me here, and a spare room available. As soon as she was feeling better, I was going to present her with that option.
I glanced back through the house at the spare room door, my heart pumping as if I had just run a marathon. I’d known her a total of six days and now I was contemplating asking her to move in with me.
Holy shit.