He told her the story.
‘You truly are a mighty god.’
Finn attempted a smile, but only looked like a man facing execution. Kelly could see he was still deep inside his head. They were sitting in his lounge room on opposite couches. Finn was sprawled out in T-shirt and shorts, his imposing bulk melting into the couch. Kelly had her legs tucked up beneath her. While he had been in the bath, she had taken a shower and dressed in the only available clothing she had: the gym gear she kept in the boot of her car. From his angle in the tub, Finn couldn’t see her showering, but it wouldn’t have bothered her particularly. He had been so zoned out that her nakedness would barely have registered. And he’d accidentally walked in on her a few times over the years anyway, so it wasn’t like he’d never seen her without clothes on.
But the nudity would have been different if either of them had done it on purpose, which was why she hadn’t taken off his shorts before pushing him into the water. Not that there would’ve been anything sexual about it in the moment: he was a patient, she was his carer. And she wouldn’t exactly have had to drag back the wild horses of lust. A penis, even Finn’s, was not an especially attractive sight so she’d need more than a peek at his floating scrotum to carry her away. But when he came back from the edge, it would have been there between them.
Finn’s penis between them. She grinned at the thought.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Finn said.
Great, so he picks this precise moment to return to the world, Kelly thought. Typical man. They could sense a woman thinking about their genitalia from an induced coma.
‘Nothing,’ she said.
‘Liar.’
‘Nothing important, anyway.’ She changed the subject. ‘Come on, I’m starving. Let’s cook dinner.’
Finn looked blankly at her. ‘I don’t have any dinner.’
‘By cook, I mean have a stranger prepare it and another stranger bring it to your door.’
She used an app on her phone to order pizza and booze. The alcohol wouldn’t do Finn any favours, but there was no way she was going without it after the day she’d had. She selected music, connected to Finn’s speakers and hit play.
‘Adele,’ Finn said.
‘I thought her own deeply troubled emotional state might help you overcome yours.’
He smiled. Yep, he was coming back. Kelly’s shoulders relaxed, although she hadn’t realised she’d been tensing them.
Finn sat up straighter on the couch. ‘So, why’d you turn up in tears on my doorstep?’
‘Wait. Before we talk about that, what’s going on with you?’
‘I told you.’
‘No, what’s really going on? Is it work? Your mum?’
Finn shook his head. ‘It’s not my mum. Work, maybe. Esme came by the studio today.’
Kelly had met Esme many times and knew a personal visit from Finn’s crazy agent would bring either magnificent or devastating news. ‘And?’
Finn wouldn’t make eye contact. He looked sheepish. Embarrassed, even. ‘She’s got me an audition for a Netflix original film.’
‘You fucking what!’ Kelly leaned forward and slapped his leg.
Finn met her eyes and smiled. ‘A-list Hollywood co-star.’
‘And you didn’t call me straight away?’
‘I was too busy freaking out.’
‘I swear if you hadn’t already kicked your own arse, I’d come over there and kick it for you.’
‘You’re the best friend a guy could ask for.’
It all made sense now. ‘Okay, so you’re stressed about the audition and you’ve channelled that stress into the red-light incident, which actually isn’t an incident at all because you’re allowed to enter an intersection when the light is amber if it isn’t safe to stop. Your classic anxiety outlet.’
