Public Market for lunch and would be back at one. The weather had improved so we ate outside on the quay. When we got back to the studio, the message light on the phone was blinking. The message was from the police. When I called back, I learned that they’d located the van. Or at least what was left of it. It had been ditched in Surrey, stripped of everything removable, and then some, and set alight. No sign of the camera equipment.
I called the insurance company and gave them the good news. Later, leaving Wayne and Ali to look after the studio, Mary-Alice and I went to our appointment with the architectural firm. We took her car. The meeting went well, and we came away with a nice contract, plus the promise of more work in the future, if things worked out. On the way back to the studio, Mary-Alice asked me how much the insurance company would reimburse us for the van.
“Not much. It was getting pretty old. Certainly not enough to buy a new one. The cameras and the other equipment were covered for replacement value.”
“I don’t think we can afford to replace the van,” she said.
“Forget it. The Jeep will do for now.”
“That’s your personal vehicle.”
“So?”
“Keep track of the mileage. The company will reimburse you for its use.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Then I remembered that she’d reset the Beamer’s trip meter when we’d set out after lunch. “You’re charging your mileage now?”
“Of course,” she said. “Thirty-five cents a kilometre.” I had no idea if that was the going rate or not, but it didn’t strike me as excessive. “Do you have a problem with that?” she said.
“What? No, of course not. It’s only fair.”
“But you have a problem, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Come on, Tom. You’re my older brother. I’ve known you all my life. I can tell when you’re not happy about something.”
I almost laughed, but my instinct for self-preservation kicked in. If Mary-Alice could sense there was something troubling me, it must have been tattooed on my forehead in bright green letters. Although she was right that something was bothering me, she was wrong about what.
“Is it me?” she asked. “Is it the way I’ve reorganized the company? I thought we’d settled all that.” She took her eyes off the road for a second to glance at me. “Haven’t we?”
If her idea of settling it had been me acceding to her wishes, agreeing with her plans, then it certainly had been settled. “No, it’s not that,” I said. “You’ve done a great job with the reorganization and I think the new studio is going to work out fine.”
“But … ?”
I didn’t want to talk about Reeny’s call, so I said, “I just need time to adjust.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Adjust to what?” she asked, somewhat defensively, I thought.
It was a good question. When I’d started the business after leaving the Vancouver Sun, it had been just me I’d had to worry about. As long as I had enough work to cover child support payments, rent on the studio and my house, plus food, clothing, and car repairs, with a little left over for a decent bottle of Scotch now and again, I was happy. And if things got tight, which they had from time to time, especially during the first couple of years, I could always make do with cheaper Scotch. Not much had changed when Bobbi had come on board as my assistant, or even when she’d bought in as a partner a few years later, we worked that well together. But things were different now. The company was no longer just me and Bobbi and Bodger scraping by and having a good time doing it, despite the ups and downs. It was Granville Photographic Services, Inc. We had a logo. We had a corporate seal. We had a chairman of the board (me), and a president (Bobbi), and a secretary-treasurer (guess who). We had inventory control. And we charged mileage when we used our personal vehicles on company business. It wasn’t as much fun anymore.
“Growing up,” I said. “Responsibility.”
Marry-Alice grunted. “We all have to grow up sometime, Tom,” she said. “You’re not Peter Pan.”
“No,” I said, wondering where Tinkerbell was when I needed her; I could have used a dose of pixie dust about then. Mary-Alice, too.
I didn’t recognize the cop outside Bobbi’s room when I got to the hospital at six that evening. He demanded my name and wouldn’t let me past until he’d checked it against his list. When he finally let me into Bobbi’s room, Greg Matthias was already there, sitting beside Bobbi’s bed, reading aloud from a trade paperback with an old hand-tinted photo of a cowboy on the cover, The Englishman’s Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe, one of Bobbi’s favourite authors. He closed the book and stood as I approached the bed.
“How is she?” I asked. She didn’t look any different, although her bruises were yellowing and the lacerations were healing nicely.
“She seems closer to the surface,” he said. “As if she’ll wake up any time.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“She hears us,” I said.
“I think so.”
“Hey, Bobbi. Enough of this already. No more slacking off. It’s time to wake up.”
Matthias grinned and Bobbi’s eyes fluttered again and she muttered querulously. Then her eyes opened and she looked straight at me.
“Hi,” I said, half expecting her to close her eyes again, as she’d done the day before. She didn’t, though. She continued to stare at me, but she didn’t speak. There wasn’t any recognition in her eyes. Just confusion. “Hi,” I said again.
She blinked and in that instant came back from wherever she’d been.
“Tom?” she said, voice a raspy croak.
“Hey, Bobbi,” I said, throat tight, eyes burning. “Welcome back.”
“Where have I …?” She licked her dry, cracked lips. “Can I have a drink of water?”
Matthias handed me a cup with a bent drinking straw. “Just a sip,” he said.
Her eyes swivelled toward him, but her lips closed around the tip of the straw. She sipped and swallowed, sipped and swallowed, then released the straw.
“Hello, Greg,” she said, voice a bit less raspy.
“Hello, Bobbi. How do you feel?”
She looked at me, as if uncertain how to answer the question.
“I’ll get a doctor,” Greg said and went to the door.
“I know this is going to sound stupid,” Bobbi said, “but where am I?” She looked around. “It looks like a hospital room.”
“It is,” I said. “You’re in the Vancouver General.”
“What happened? Did I have an accident?” She tried to sit up, sending the monitors into panic mode. She fell back. “Christ, I feel like shit.” She reached up to touch her face. “My face feels funny when I talk.”
“You’re pretty banged up,” I said.
“Am I — am I going to be okay?”
“Sure, you’re going to be just fine.”
“Then why are you crying?”
I rubbed my nose. “Allergies.”
Matthias came back into the room with a nurse. She glanced at the machines beside the bed as she took Bobbi’s hand and said, “How do you feel, dear?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Bobbi said. She looked at me. “Was I?”
“No,” I said.