Chapter 6 - The Call He Didn’t Want to Make
By the second day without Grace, Evelyn stopped eating breakfast.
By the third, she refused lunch.
Dominic replaced the chef.
It changed nothing.
He brought in her favorite bakery from Arthur Avenue.
She pushed the cannoli away.
He ordered a nutritionist to redesign the meal plan.
Evelyn threw the printed plan at the wall.
Julia arrived at noon and found Dominic standing in the hallway with three specialists and a tablet.
She looked at the group.
Then at him.
“Oh, good. A committee.”
“This isn’t the time.”
“It’s exactly the time.”
Dominic dismissed the specialists.
Julia waited until they disappeared around the corner.
“Call her.”
“No.”
“Call Grace.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She no longer works here.”
“That was your decision.”
“She overstepped.”
“You fired her because Mom scared you.”
“I fired her because she undermined my authority.”
Julia stared at him.
“You hear yourself, right?”
Dominic walked toward the stairs.
Julia followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To work.”
“You’re going to Midtown while Mom refuses food?”
“She has nurses.”
“She had nurses before Grace.”
He stopped.
Julia lowered her voice.
“Call her.”
Dominic looked away.
“I don’t need her.”
Julia laughed.
“No. Mom does.”
That was worse.
At four fifteen, Dominic sat inside his car outside a glass office tower on Madison Avenue.
He had just finished a meeting.
His driver waited.
Security waited.
His phone rested in his palm.
Grace’s number was in the personnel file.
He had never used it.
He typed it manually.
Deleted it.
Typed it again.
Called.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
Dominic almost hung up.
“Grace.”
Silence.
Then, “Mr. Blackwell.”
“My mother isn’t eating.”
Grace did not respond immediately.
He could hear traffic behind her.
A bus braking.
Someone shouting.
Ordinary city noise.
“What do the doctors say?”
“That physically she can eat.”
“Medication changes?”
“No.”
“Pain?”
“No.”
“Constipation?”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
“Older adults stop eating for boring reasons too.”
“No.”
“Did anyone ask her why?”
“She says the food is poisoned.”
Grace sighed.
“Does she say who poisoned it?”
“No.”
“Did she say that before I left?”
“No.”
Dominic looked out the car window.
“Come back.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
Then he caught himself.
“Grace.”
“I heard you.”
“I’ll pay you.”
“No.”
“Name a number.”
“No.”
He closed his eyes.
“What do you want?”
The question came out more sharply than intended.
Grace was silent.
Then she said, “That is the first useful question you’ve asked me.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Fine. What do you want?”
“If I come, I come for Evelyn. Not for you.”
“Agreed.”
“I am not returning as housekeeping staff.”
“Fine.”
“I am not becoming her private nurse.”
“Fine.”
“I want her neurologist in the room.”
“Done.”
“And I want the audio recording disabled in her bedroom and sitting room.”
Dominic’s eyes opened.
“No.”
“Then no.”
“Security stays.”
“I didn’t say remove the cameras.”
“You said disable audio.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she lives there.”
“She has Alzheimer’s.”
“She also has privacy.”
“She could fall.”
“Video catches falls.”
“She could say something relevant to her medical condition.”
“A nurse can write it down.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“You don’t dictate security in my house.”
“Then don’t call me.”
The line went dead.
His driver stared straight ahead.
Dominic looked at the phone.
He wanted to call Marcus.
Wanted to complain about the insolence.
Wanted to tell someone to fix it.
Instead, he called the neurologist.
Then he called Marcus.
“Disable audio on Camera Four and Five.”
Marcus was quiet.
“Temporarily?”
Dominic looked at his reflection in the tinted glass.
“No.”
Grace arrived two hours later.
No uniform.
Jeans.
A dark green sweater.
Hair loose around her shoulders.
Dominic noticed how different she looked when she was not dressed to disappear.
He disliked noticing.
Evelyn sat in bed with her arms crossed.
Grace entered without greeting anyone else.
“Mrs. Blackwell.”
Evelyn looked at her.
Then away.
“You left.”
Grace nodded.
“I did.”
“You didn’t say goodbye.”
“No.”
“That was rude.”
“Yes.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Grace pulled the chair closer.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn looked at her again.
“You and Dominic fought.”
Dominic’s head turned.
Grace did not.
“Yes.”
“I told him he was stubborn.”
“You were right.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
Julia covered a laugh with her hand.
Evelyn pointed at the dinner tray.
“They put something in it.”
Grace examined the plate.
Chicken.
Rice.
Carrots.
She smelled the water.
Then the food.
She lifted the lid from the gravy.
“Did you taste it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They want me sleepy.”
The nurse shifted uncomfortably.
Grace looked at the medication cup on the nightstand.
“What time did you give the evening pills?”
“Six.”
“And dinner?”
“Six fifteen.”
Grace looked at the neurologist.
“Any medication change after the hospital?”
The doctor checked the chart.
“One dose increased. Quetiapine, at night.”
Grace nodded.
Evelyn watched them.
“I told you.”
Grace looked back at her.
“You did.”
Dominic frowned.
“The medication isn’t in the food.”
“No,” Grace said. “But if she felt groggy after eating two nights in a row, she may have connected dinner to the feeling.”
The neurologist agreed.
“We can move the dose later.”
The nurse looked relieved.
Dominic felt something uncomfortable.
Not relief.
Embarrassment.
Everyone had been trying to prove Evelyn wrong.
Grace had tried to understand why she believed she was right.
They changed the timing.
Grace opened a fresh yogurt cup from the refrigerator.
Peeled the foil herself.
Handed it to Evelyn.
“No one touched this.”
Evelyn examined it.
Then ate one spoonful.
Julia looked at Dominic.
He ignored her.
After Evelyn finished half, Grace stood.
“I should go.”
Evelyn frowned.
“You just got here.”
“I’ll come tomorrow.”
“You promise?”
Grace hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
In the hallway, Dominic stopped her.
“You said you weren’t coming back.”
“I said I wasn’t coming back as your employee.”
“So what are you now?”
Grace adjusted her coat.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t like that answer.”
“I know.”
He almost said name a position.
He stopped.
“What would make this sustainable?”
Grace studied him.
“A care plan that doesn’t depend on me.”
That surprised him.
“You’re the only person she responds to.”
“No. I’m the only person everyone has decided to watch instead of learning from.”
The neurologist stepped into the hall behind them.
“She’s right.”
Dominic looked at him.
The doctor continued.
“We can train the staff differently. Fewer people. More consistent faces. More validation, less correction. Scheduled walking. Familiar tasks.”
“She wandered.”
“She may wander again.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
The doctor did not soften the answer.
“No plan eliminates risk.”
“I can.”
“No,” Grace said.
He turned toward her.
She held his gaze.
“You can eliminate movement. That isn’t the same thing.”
The neurologist nodded.
“At some point, care becomes a balance between safety and quality of life.”
Dominic hated balances.
Balances meant no guaranteed outcome.
Julia joined them.
“Maybe we should look at memory care.”
“No.”
Dominic’s response was immediate.
Julia folded her arms.
“You didn’t even hear the sentence.”
“I know the sentence.”
“She might do better somewhere designed for this.”
“She stays home.”
Grace asked, “Because she wants to?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
He looked at her.
Grace’s voice softened.
“Not everything can be answered from a camera.”
The next morning, the family met in Evelyn’s sitting room.
Dominic.
Julia.
Grace.
The neurologist.
The head nurse.
Marcus, because Dominic insisted on security representation.
Evelyn sat near the window drinking coffee.
For twenty minutes, everyone discussed her.
Staff ratios.
Medication.
Door alarms.
Outdoor access.
Supervision.
Fall risk.
Evelyn sipped her coffee.
Then placed the cup down.
“You all know I’m sitting here?”
Silence.
Julia looked ashamed.
Grace said, “Apparently we forgot.”
Evelyn pointed toward the garden.
“I want my room.”
Dominic nodded.
“You have it.”
“My garden.”
“Yes.”
“My coffee.”
“Yes.”
“And fewer strangers standing around pretending I’m furniture.”
The head nurse looked down at her notes.
Evelyn turned toward Dominic.
“You too.”
He blinked.
“Me?”
“You come in. You look at me. Then you look at the camera.”
Dominic felt everyone in the room become very still.
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“I’m still here when you’re looking somewhere else.”
For one rare minute, her mind was clear enough to wound him precisely.
Dominic crossed the room.
He sat opposite her.
No tablet.
No phone.
No monitor.
“What do you want me to do?”
Evelyn looked at his hands.
“Have coffee.”
“That’s it?”
“For now.”
Dominic glanced at the others.
Grace lifted one eyebrow.
He understood.
He dismissed them.
All of them.
Even Marcus.
When the room was empty, Dominic poured himself a cup.
Evelyn watched him.
“You don’t even like coffee.”
“I’ll survive.”
She smiled.
For the next twelve minutes, they talked about nothing important.
Rain.
The garden.
A neighbor Evelyn believed still lived next door even though he had moved years earlier.
A restaurant in Manhattan that no longer existed.
Dominic corrected none of it.
When he finally left, Grace was waiting in the hallway.
“How was the emergency?”
He looked at her.
“What emergency?”
“The coffee.”
Dominic glanced back at the closed door.
“No casualties.”
Grace smiled.
He should have let her walk away.
Instead, he asked, “Will you help train the staff?”
“Temporarily.”
“I’ll pay you.”
“You should.”
He almost smiled.
“Through an outside agency. Your hours. Your contract.”
Grace looked surprised.
Dominic added, “You said sustainable.”
“I did.”
“Then build something that doesn’t require you.”
For the first time since he had known her, Grace looked at him without suspicion.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But something less guarded.
“Okay,” she said.
Dominic nodded.
Then, because he was still himself, he added, “Marcus will review the contract.”
Grace rolled her eyes.
The moment broke.
He found that he did not mind.
That evening, Dominic entered the command center.
Camera Four showed Evelyn drinking tea with Julia.
No audio.
He stared at the silent image.
May you like
Then reached forward.
And turned the monitor off.
