She must be returning his call from the other night. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“Sure,” the foreman said. What was his name again? Gord? “I’ll come find you if I have any questions, but I think we’re all set here.”
Jeff took the call in the office off the kitchen, sitting in a desk chair that was a little too worn to be comfortable and a size too big for him anyway. But he’d specifically asked for the house to come completely furnished because he didn’t have time to buy everything by the time he needed it. He’d ordered new mattresses and linens and that was it.
“Hi, Ella.”
“Hi, sweetheart. I got your message.”
Yes, obviously. Only now Jeff had to talk to her about it. Ugh. “Thank you for calling,” he said. “Um, I just… this is going to sound so bizarre.”
“You and Carter didn’t have a fight, did you?” She sounded concerned. “I know he can be stubborn. He’s like his father that way.”
That was the opening Jeff needed, but he hated himself for using it. “No, we’re not fighting, but he…. Actually, that’s…. I’m just wondering….”Did your husband work himself into an early grave?And do you think he passed that on to your middle son?Working yourself to death wasn’t a real thing, was it?
“Honey, I’ve known you a long time, but you’re going to have to give me a little more to go on.”
Jeff groaned and resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. For one thing, it’d make a really ridiculous noise on the phone. “Has Carter always been so… hardworking?”
Wow, did that make him sound like an asshole?
Ella hummed. “You mean has he always put in extralong days, taken on any extra responsibility he could find, and filled all his waking hours with activity?”
“Yes.” Jeff practically deflated in relief. “Why is he doing that?”
This time when she answered, her voice was as dry as the liquor store before a holiday weekend. “What am I, the oracle?” He could practically see her rolling her eyes. “I love my son, but I don’t pretend to know all his secrets.”
Shit. There went Jeff’s hopes of getting an easy answer. He tried to explain. “I just wondered if he’d always been like this. The only time I managed to get him to relax at all was when he was with me in Toronto and Vancouver. I don’t remember him being like this as a kid, but maybe my mind’s just playing tricks?”
“No, you’re right about that.” She paused—a thoughtful silence. “I told you what he was like after his father died. He was trying to fill a hole that couldn’t be filled.”
Jeff resisted the urge to make a dirty joke. “Yeah, you said. But after that, I don’t know… I thought….”
“Honestly, Jeff, those weeks he spent with you before the memorial were the most relaxed I’d seen him in months. Which is saying something, considering the park is mostly closed in the winter and he had very little to do.”
Jeff had been afraid of that. “So this backsliding now….”
“You’d have to ask him about it,” she said pointedly, which was fair. Jeff couldn’t go running to Carter’s mom every time they needed to have a difficult conversation. “But if I were you, I’d be asking myself what’s changed.”
Jeff was already writing an album; how much more self-reflection could one person do? “All right. Thanks,” he said belatedly.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. You know you can ask me anything.” Ella paused again, and this time when she resumed, amusement colored her voice. “Even if the answer is that you need to do the legwork yourself.”
Jeff snorted in spite of himself. “I could use the frank talk,” he admitted. He didn’t exactly have much in the way of relationship role models, and Ella and Fred had been more in love in their forties than any other couple he’d ever met.
“Oh, I know it. And I know you make my boy very happy.”
He could tell from the tone of her voice she was thinking about the time she’d walked in on them kissing, and he had to fight the urge to groan aloud again. “It’s mutual.”
Now she laughed. “Oh, Jeff. I never had any doubt about that.”
He’d only just hung up when the foreman poked his head in. Jeff’s heart sank. “Bad news?”
“Well, it’s not great.” He had a clipboard with him. “This is going to be a studio room, yeah? Lots of equipment for recording and… whatever?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”Please tell me that can still be the plan.“Is something wrong?”
“Ah, yes and no. Any idea how much power that equipment draws?”
