“Why don't you just ask me if Allie is still alive,” Page said cruelly. It wasn't like her to be so unkind, but she had really had it with him.
“Oh my God … is she? … oh Page …” His eyes filled instantly with tears as Page watched him coldly.
“No, she didn't die. But she could have, and where would I have called you, Brad? As usual, you never even called us.”
“You bitch!” He slammed the door to the bedroom, and Andy started to cry. They were always fighting.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.” She bent down and held him, and Brad didn't come out of the bedroom again. She didn't pursue him either. They left for the airport, and Andy was very quiet on the way. So was Page, she was thinking of the way Brad had looked when he came home. He looked young, and refreshed, and happy, until he saw her. But it was Andy she was worried about as they drove to the airport. He looked heartbroken as he stared out the window.
Her mother and Alexis were among the first passengers off the plane. Her mother looked trim as usual, with beautifully done white hair, and a navy suit that showed off her slim figure. Alexis looked striking in a pale pink Chanel suit, her blond hair perfectly done, her exquisite artificial features made up like the cover of Vogue. She was carrying a black alligator Hermes bag and matching tote, as she carefully kissed the air near Page's cheek and said a cautious hello to Andy.
“You look wonderful, dear,” her mother said happily, looking past her. “Where's Brad?”
“He's at home. He didn't have time to come, but he said to tell you he was sorry.” She had no idea if he'd even be there when they got back. There was no predicting his appearances these days, and covering that up during her mother's visit wasn't going to be easy. But she didn't want to discuss the demise of her marriage with her, and her mother wouldn't want to hear it.
They waited for their luggage at the baggage claim, and fortunately all of it arrived safely. A porter staggered under the mountain of bags they had brought. Alexis's were all matched Gucci cases.
“How's Allyson?” Alexis asked cautiously on the drive home, and Page started to explain her current status, still deep in her coma. But her mother cut her off almost as soon as she spoke, and told her how divine the weather had been in New York, and how great Alexis's apartment looked these days, since she'd redone it.
“That's nice,” Page said quietly. Nothing had changed. They were the same pair who had come out before. The only mystery was why she always expected two different people. All her life she had expected her mother to be someone else, someone homey and warm, who cared and really listened. And she always hoped that Alexis would turn out to have pigtails and freckles and a heart. But they never changed. Her mother spoke of only pleasant things, and Alexis hardly spoke at all, she was too busy being perfect and looking pretty. Page had always wondered what she and David talked about, if anything. He was a lot older than her sister was, and he was always in surgery …much of it obviously spent on redoing his wife, which seemed to be a full-time occupation for him.
“How has the weather been here?” her mother inquired as they crossed the bridge where Allyson's life had been destroyed. Page couldn't drive across it anymore without feeling nauseous and dizzy.
“The weather?” she said blankly. Who knew? She was in ICU all the time, or fighting with Brad. Who had time to look at the weather? “I think it's been fine. I haven't really noticed.”
“And Andy, how's your arm? What a silly thing to do!” his grandmother cooed, as Andy showed Alexis all the places where people had signed. Bjorn had even drawn a picture of a little dog, Andy always grinned when he said it looked just like Richie Green's hamster. But he loved Bjorn, and he was proud of their budding friendship. He loved telling his friends at school that he had a friend who was eighteen. And of course no one ever believed him.
Page was surprised that Brad was waiting for them at home. And he was very cordial to both Alexis and their mother. He carried in their mountain of bags, and set her mother's up for her in the guest room. Her mother was going to sleep in the large double bed, and normally Alexis would have slept in it with her, but this time she had asked if she could sleep in Allyson's bedroom. Page didn't really want her to, right now it felt like something of a shrine. Nothing had been touched since the night Allyson left to go out to dinner with Chloe.
But Brad said it was fine. And Page forced herself to overcome her reservations. It was foolish for them to sleep in the same bed, when they had another empty bedroom. It just underlined even more starkly the fact that Allyson wasn't there, and it made Page uncomfortable to have someone else in her space, but it couldn't be helped, and she knew she was foolish to resent it.
Alexis asked her for a drink. She wanted cold Evian without ice, and her mother said that she would love a cup of coffee and a little sandwich while she unpacked her things. It was typical of Page's experience with them, and she went to the kitchen, without saying a word, and made whatever they wanted.
It was four-thirty by then, and Page was anxious to get to the hospital. She hadn't been all day, and she was sure that her mother and Alexis would want to see Allie. She mentioned it as the two women joined her in the living room, and her mother complimented her on the new couch, and drapes, and new paintings.
“You do such nice work, dear.” Like Brad, her mother treated her artwork like a charming hobby, and always had. Page's brief experience with the stage had horrified her, and she was relieved that she had never tried to do that sort of thing in California.
Page glanced at her watch uncomfortably. It was after four-thirty. “I thought maybe we'd go to the hospital. I'm sure you want to see Allie.” But the two women exchanged a glance, and Page realized that she had been foolish again. The hospital was not on their agenda.
“We've had such a long day,” Maribelle Addison said quietly, leaning back against the couch. “And Alexis is just exhausted. She's recuperating from a terrible cold,” her mother explained as Alexis nodded. “Don't you think it would be better to go in the morning?” she asked, looking wide-eyed as Page struggled for words for a moment.
“I … uh … of course, if you'd prefer …I just thought …” How stupid of her to think they would want to see Allie. They were probably scared to death of seeing her. Why on earth had they come, she wondered, except that it was a diversion for them, and they deluded themselves that they were doing something nice for Page, which of course they weren't.
“I think tomorrow would be much better, dear. Don't you think so, Brad?” she asked as he came into the room, looking dazed. Stephanie had just called him at home right in the middle of the day and issued an ultimatum. And she was insisting that he take her out to dinner that night to discuss it.
“I … uh … I think you're right, Mari-belle. You're probably both tired, and seeing her is pretty upsetting.” It annoyed Page to hear what he said. She went to get her bag without a word, and told them she'd be back at six o'clock to fix dinner.
“Will you be here to keep an eye on Andy?” she asked Brad before she left, and he nodded.
“I have to go somewhere when you get back though. Is that okay?”
“Do I have a choice?” she said sotto voce.
“I really need to pick up some papers in the city.”
She nodded and didn't say more, and told her mother she'd see her in a little while. Alexis was lying down on Allyson's bed, resting.
Page fumed all the way to the hospital about how stupid she had been to let them come out, and then she laughed at herself. What a mess it all was. Allyson was in a coma, Brad was having an affair, Andy had broken his arm, and now she was stuck with her sister and her mother. It was the classic definition of a nightmare.