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As for what might have been happening to Grandfather? She couldn’t think about it. For so long she’d seen him as a pain in the neck, restricting her freedom, limiting her choices—giving her no choices, in fact, not until she was well and truly of age. Underneath she’d known he had her best interests at heart. Thought he was doing what was best for her. That he loved her—as she loved him. But she’d also hated him for it, and rebelled in cowardly fashion, by leaving, barely visiting—only occasionally out of obligation.
She hadn’t known the extent to which he’d helped Jared and there was part of her now that felt jealous. Sure she knew Jared had worked odd jobs—she’d watched him after all—but she’d no idea of the almost paternal care Grandfather had taken over him. He’d kept his business life away from her; it wasn’t something she’d ‘needed to worry her pretty little head’ about—not until he was no longer capable and then it was kind of too late. She wished he’d included her more, taught her more. Maybe she should have asked more, taken a more active interest.
But the hard, determined man had been old school through and through. Women didn’t do the finances; that was the man’s job. He’d probably spent far more time talking to Jared than he ever had to her. And no wonder Jared felt as if he owed him. He’d made him work for what he got, given him a sense of respect and dignity. She wished he’d done the same for her. She’d been given all the ‘things’ a girl could want and yet none of the things she’d really needed in life.
Completely spoilt and sheltered right up until that night of her birthday, and then he’d been so angry he’d sent her away to a hell on earth. And she’d been so angry she hadn’t come back—not until it was too late.
He was dressed and dozing in his armchair when she got to his room. She shut the door behind her as she went in. Carefully lifted the short sleeve of his tee and got her phone from her bag. Feeling like a spy, she took a couple of pictures of the angry-looking bruise and checked his other arm. There were another couple of bruises. Anger and upset burned in her chest and she didn’t leave his side the rest of the afternoon.
The darkness unnerved her as she walked back to the motel. Despite the streetlights the sky was huge and forbidding. She was cold and the heels of her shoes clipped and echoed along the empty street. Her feet moved faster as she saw the lights of the motel. Breathless, she scanned the note taped to her door.
In the next unit…
That was as far as she read because the door next to hers opened. Jared looked at her, took her hand and with a frown pulled her straight into his room.
‘How did you get on?’ He took both her hands between his and rubbed them.
‘OK. How about you?’
‘Great.’ He smiled and she felt as if the sun had just burst through the storm clouds. ‘I found a place for you to look over on Monday. I’ve made an appointment already but you can take a look at the website now.’
She walked to the table where his laptop was open, the big screen showing bright, high-definition images of a place that looked like a five-star resort.
She skimmed an eye over the features of the exclusive facilities. ‘But there must be a waiting list?’
‘It’s taken care of. You decide if you like it and that’s where he’ll go.’
So fast. So easy. And while it was wonderful, suddenly she felt so guilty. Why hadn’t she been able to do this herself? ‘You’ve been busy.’
‘We’ll get a specialist to look him over,’ he said. ‘I’ve already been on to them about that. There might be other meds they can try and they can assess if there’s anything else that we should know about.’
She scrolled through the pages, searching for the finer print. But there was no information on fees. She shook her head. ‘This place will cost a fortune.’
‘Forget it, Amanda.’ Jared put a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of her. ‘I wouldn’t have a fortune if it wasn’t for him.’
She sat at the table and went through the website again, torn between being thrilled and feeling so bad. He took the chair next to hers and looked alongside her. This was a huge undertaking, a huge responsibility, and she couldn’t really let him do this, could she? But she already knew she had no choice. But it would affect them, it couldn’t not. The question was how.
Eventually she turned. ‘Jared—’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ He shook his head. ‘This makes no difference to us. This is separate from us.’
