Cat looked grey with exhaustion. Richard was tied up to tubes and machines.
‘Hey. Thanks for coming.’
‘Listen,’ Simon said, sitting down at the other side of their father’s bed, ‘you go home. You don’t have to stay with him. I’ll take over.’
‘I was waiting to see the consultant.’
‘Who might come now or never. What’s your take on him?’
They both looked at Richard. He was asleep, pale and miles away somewhere. Nowhere. But Cat lowered her voice.
‘Not good. His breathing worried me but the chest pain might have been cardiac. They did an ECG when he first came in and it was all over the place. He was in and out, don’t think he knew what was happening.’
‘So, what next?’
‘Not sure. If it’s pleurisy then meds – if it’s an infarct, they’ll have to see what the damage is and go from there.’
‘Why haven’t they found out already?’
‘Because they’ve been up to their eyes … Dad’s a priority but the scanners are banked up. He’s on oxygen and a morphine drip. If anything threatens, they’ll leap on it, don’t worry.’
‘Meanwhile, you can’t stay here all day. Go home, have a rest. I’m coming over for supper – the Chief and I have to finish off what we started this morning.’
‘You know …’ Cat was rubbing the edge of the sheet between her thumb and forefinger. ‘I think Kieron would be glad if …’ She looked at her father.
‘No, Kieron wouldn’t. But he doesn’t want him living in his house. Your house. That’s all.’
‘All.’
‘I know.’
‘At the moment, that’s the only place, once he’s out of here again. I can’t send him somewhere to be on his own. He couldn’t possibly cope.’
‘Nursing home?’
‘That would be temporary as well. And you know how fiercely he would resist any sort of “home” at all.’
Simon looked at his father. His cheeks had sunken down, his colour was bad. He looked suddenly very old.
Cat said, ‘You could …’
‘Absolutely not. Besides, he couldn’t get up the stairs.’
Cat shrugged.
‘And I’m not there – he’d be just as alone as he would in some sort of sheltered flat. Kieron has to lump it for a bit until Dad’s better and ready to get on with his own life again. Which he will, you know he will. I mean, how much does Dad being with you actually impinge on Kieron’s life?’
‘It takes me away from him.’
‘Tough.’
Richard stirred slightly and mumbled but did not open his eyes, and after a moment, was quiet again.
‘When do you start the new job?’
‘Not for a while, I’m still doing locums, and working the contract through with Luke also takes up my time. I can’t run home every time Dad wants a cup of coffee.’
‘Is Sam any help?’
‘Yes, but he can’t be expected to stay at home to look after his grandfather. Listen, you go … I will too as soon as I’ve seen someone and got up to speed with all this.’
‘Medical opinion – which way is this going?’
Cat looked at Richard for a moment. ‘All things being equal, I think he’ll be fine. Not yet. But he’s tough.’
‘You?’
‘Well, I’m always fine. You should know that.’
He left before she could challenge him.