No sign of that vulnerability the following morning when he catches sight of her at reception. Some power-dressed, self-righteous viper of a woman is there, banging on about her great-grandmother’s inappropriate care and the home’s exorbitant fees. He recognises her as Amelia’s visitor, the one who’d never once bothered to visit before in her life. Gulnaz remains wonderfully stolid, impeccably diplomatic, gradually calming the woman with a salve of empathic words without actually giving an inch. Perhaps it’s the man at her side who inspires such confidence. Perhaps she is out to impress him. They make a formidable pair, Nurse Gulnaz Rahmani and Doctor Jonathan Prentice; the angry relative never really stands a chance. Soon she is vanquished and fading from view. There’s laughter and sighs of relief. And then the name ‘Alex’. It’s Prentice who speaks it and Gulnaz who picks it up.
“Yes, just like that. One moment nothing – not a word since that time he’d said my name. The next thing, the floodgates are opening. He struggles a bit to form some words, but the transformation is beyond belief.”
The doctor says something next that Alex misses.
“It’s so wonderfully generous of you,” she responds. “But are you quite sure?” A nod, a smile and a kiss to the cheek tells her he is. “Then I’ll tell Alex at once.”
She leads him to the door and Alex thinks he hears Prentice say, “See you tonight,” but can’t entirely be certain. He does his best to ignore the jealousy rising from the pit of his stomach.
At lunch, she tells Alex about Prentice’s visit, confirming his plan to come midweek and test his readiness for speech therapy. She clearly wants to tell him something more, but not here. Maybe Prentice has proposed to her. Or maybe it’s the rest of her unfinished story.
“I’ll come by tonight when I finish,” she says. “If that’s okay.”