Interrupted Romance (17 page)

Dafna tried everything she could think of to help him through his bouts of pain.
 
His parents were concerned, but left Dafna to look after him, as he wouldn't allow anyone else near him in any case.

The day of the appointment with Dr Feldman came and a relieved Dafna led Adam to the car.
 
He was grumpy again, clenching a fist every now and then, or rubbing his forehead to try to ease the pain away.
 
It would be a good time for the doctor to see him like this, see the change in him.

Dafna drove carefully, but faster than normal to the Tel Aviv clinic, thinking only to have the doctor on hand during one of the bouts of pain.

They didn't have to wait too long before Dr Feldman called Adam into his office.
 
Dafna stood up with Adam and led him to the door, but then Dr Feldman took Adam's arm himself and drew him into the office.
 
Dafna took the hint and stepped back, leaving Adam with the doctor.
 
She waited impatiently in the outer office, feeling hurt that she wasn't invited to go in with Adam.
 
Well, why would he invite her in… was she Adam's wife?
 
No.
 
Was she even his fiancée?
 
No, again.
 
She was just the driver.
 
Now it was her turn to begin to feel anger.
 
After all this time with Adam, she was nothing more than a courier, a messenger.

When, at last, Adam came back through the doorway, with the doctor holding his arm for guidance, Dafna was not exactly comforted by the look on his face.
 
She rose from the chair by the window and moved to Adam's side, tucking her hand through his arm.

He turned his head towards her, but didn't smile.
 
Dr Feldman smiled briefly at Dafna before turning back to the receptionist to attend to his next patient.
 
He was a busy man.

"OK, Adam, let's go.
 
You can tell me about this visit over coffee.
 
There's a little café not far away."

"Yes.
 
Coffee would be good.
 
Thanks, Dafna, for bringing me here today."

They walked in silence, to the café in the next block.
 
Dafna guided Adam to a table and they sat down to wait for the waitress to come for their order.
 
Adam said nothing of importance, so they continued to talk of banal topics until the coffee was placed in front of them.

"I can't wait any longer, darling," she said to him.
 
"Please tell me what it's all about."

"I think you can guess," he began, "I'll need another operation as Roni thinks there is pressure building up in my skull from the hijacker's hit.
 
I can't remember all the details, but that's the guts of it.
 
He thinks it will be weeks before he can fit me into the hospital schedule.
 
I have to keep on with the painkillers when the pain hits, but he's given me another prescription to try if I want."

Dafna placed a hand over his.
 
He'd been fiddling with the spoon, with shaking hands, when it dropped from his fingers and clattered noisily onto the floor.
 
Several other diners looked around at him.
 
They saw a large man with a pale face, lips clamped together in frustration or pain, or both, and an anxious-looking, lovely, young woman holding his hand.

"He must have been as disappointed as you, darling, that your sight has gone completely just now.
 
What did he say about it?"

"He was disappointed.
 
He'd felt all along that I would be sighted by now.
 
The last thing I needed was a blow to the head, like the one I got.
 
Apart from that, he is still optimistic.
 
He said the timing would be changed, that's all."

They sipped their coffee.
 
Adam hadn't put any sugar in his and reached around the tabletop for the sugar bowl.
 
He found it with unseen help from Dafna, felt for a spoon, which she conveniently placed before him.

"Would you like me to do it?" she asked.

"Good God, woman, am I so pathetic that I need someone to sugar my coffee now?" he said hoarsely.
 
He hadn't raised his voice, but the tone cut through Dafna like a knife.

"No, of course not.
 
I'm sorry."

She watched him clumsily hold a spoon full of sugar over his cup.
 
Some of it spilled on the table before it arrived at the cup. He heard it drop on the table and angrily swept his hand across the table to push the errant sugar granules onto the floor.

"Damn!" he muttered.

"Adam, calm down.
 
It will be alright.
 
I know it will.
 
If Dr Feldman was confident, then you should be too."

Jabbing a stiff, pointing forefinger onto the tabletop, Adam exclaimed, through his gritted teeth, one word at a time, "Dr. Bloody.Feldman. isn't. in. my. place!"

Another spoon of sugar was aimed at the cup to make up for the amount lost on the first effort.
 
He held his cup with one hand around the rim so that he could guess where to drop the spoon in to stir the hot liquid.
 
He seemed to be particularly awkward in his movements, but Dafna thought is was probably just the hot rage he was experiencing at this setback, making him jerk his hands about.
 
She was still smarting from his verbal attack on her.
 
It was so unlike him!

She drank her coffee as quickly as she was able, given the temperature of the drink.
 
To her, it was a good idea to get him out of here, get him home as fast as she could.
 
Perhaps there he would return to his usual self.

Adam took his time with his coffee, allowing it to cool a little before he picked up the cup.
 
He didn't speak to Dafna, didn’t turn towards her, didn't reach for her hand.
 
She remained quiet beside him, allowing him time to sort out his particular demons of the day.
 
In fact, she didn't know what to say to him that would ease his fury and exasperation at his current predicament.
 
It seemed best that she simply wait until he showed he was ready to leave, and then to take him home.

When Adam thrust his chair away from the table and stood, Dafna picked up her handbag and took his arm to lead him to the car.
 
He allowed her to guide him, but didn't want to take her hand as he had done on most previous occasions when they were out together.
 
Still he remained silent, even on the drive home.
 
Dafna glanced at him several times, but said nothing for fear of sparking an angry outburst again.
 
She bit her lip at the memory of his reaction in the café.

They arrived at his parents' home and as Dafna switched off the engine she said, "Here we are, Adam… home."

He got out of the car and started to make his own way towards the fence.
 
Having bumped into it, he then ran his hand along the top, guiding himself until he felt the gate, which he opened and walked through, without waiting for Dafna.
 
She followed him to the door, where his mother had been waiting for him, having seen them pull up outside.
 
His mother greeted them, but Adam only grunted in reply.
 
At this, Mrs Lavan raised her eyebrows at Dafna in an unspoken query.
 
Dafna's face was a picture of misery as she briefly shook her head at Mrs Lavan to warn her of Adam's mood.

He went straight to his room and closed the door.
 
Inside the living room, Mrs Lavan questioned Dafna as to the cause for Adam's rude behaviour.
 
Dafna related the events of the past few hours to her as best she could.
 
Her voice broke with emotion when she explained about the episode in the café.
 
Mrs Lavan moved quickly to her side and wrapped Dafna in her arms and rocked her.

"My dear, we know that you are the best thing that has happened to Adam, even if he isn't showing it today.
 
He knows it, too.
 
Try to be patient with him a little longer."

"I know what he's going through, but I think it would be best if I moved back into my own apartment.
 
I can't stay here when my presence aggravates him so much.
 
I remind him all the time of why he is in this condition in the first place!"

Mrs Lavan tried to talk Dafna out of leaving them, but she was determined not to be the thorn in his side.
 
Perhaps without her there, he would reassess the positive side of his life, be more able to accept her help without hurting her feelings as he had done today.
 
For his sake, she would go back to her apartment, pick up the threads of her life again, go to the shop every day, wait for him to call her when he needed her company again.
 
It wasn't going to be easy.
 
She would miss him so much, not seeing him every day.

She packed her belongings, thanked Mr & Mrs Lavan for their hospitality and turned towards Adam's door.
 
Knocking softly, she called out to him.
 
He didn't answer, so she tried again, knocking a bit harder.

"Adam.
 
Adam, could I talk to you a moment please?"
 
She waited.

"What do you want!" he growled.
 
"I don't want to see anyone!"

"Adam, please open the door."

"No.
 
Go away.
 
Everyone can go away.
 
I don't want anyone near me.
 
I don't want to talk to anyone.
 
Just leave me alone," he was shouting now.

Dafna was horrified at his reaction.
 
She stood with a shaking hand over her mouth, eyes filling with tears.
 
Mrs Lavan had heard everything and took Dafna's hand, leading her away from Adam's door.

"I can see what you mean, dear.
 
Leave him to me.
 
I will speak to him when he calms down."

Dafna could only nod her head and picked up her suitcase and walked out of the house.
 
She hadn't gone far when she was able to hail a taxi to take her to her apartment.

CHAPTER 20

The apartment needed dusting and cleaning, but otherwise it was the sanctuary that she needed.
 
Dafna called on her neighbour to thank her for forwarding on some mail, and holding the latest deliveries for her; brought her up to date with the main points of what had happened since she'd left so suddenly.

Her next job was to call the shop.
 
Although she had kept in touch by email and the odd phone call, it had been a few weeks since she'd made any serious effort to speak with Yael or Ilana about the running of the business.
 
She promised to see them the following day and rang off.

All that was left to do was to clean the refrigerator out, vacuum the floors, pick up some groceries, settle back in.
 
And wait.

The cleaning of the apartment didn't take as long as Dafna would have liked.
 
She wanted to keep busy for the rest of the day.
 
However, there was enough unanswered mail and bills to be paid, that she immersed herself in the correspondence for a few hours.
 
When she finished with that business she decided to call her mother, but realised she'd have to wait a few hours because of the time difference.
 
Her mother wouldn't appreciate being woken up at three in the morning!

It was going to be a long night.
 
Adam hadn't called.

The following day, Dafna was up early even though she'd had a night of troubled sleep.
 
She breakfasted on fruit and coffee, listening to the news of the day on the radio.

After a leisurely shower, she chose her clothes for the day - slacks, and a pretty blouse in a pastel pink which set off her colouring so well.
 
She looked at her reflection in the mirror and knew she would need to spend extra care with make-up, to hide the dark circles under her eyes.
 
Lack of sleep and her worry about Adam had left dark bruising which she must cover before appearing at the shop.
 
While she brushed her shoulder-length black hair until it gleamed she thought about ringing Adam, but immediately cancelled the idea, knowing that he may still be in a foul mood and any contact from her wouldn't help him… or her.
 
She wished he would call her!

Before leaving the apartment for the day, Dafna used up a few extra minutes, straightening the cloth on the table, rearranging some flowers that she'd bought the previous day, hoping to brighten her own gloomy mood.
 
They reminded her of her mother's garden and that in turn reminded her to call her mother.
 
She picked up the phone and dialled the number in Sydney.

Talking with her mother brought Dafna almost to tears again as she relived the way Adam had spoken to, or rather, shouted at her.
 
Her mother was very understanding and let her talk it out.
 
She could only offer words of comfort to her daughter, so far away.
 
However, Dafna got some of her misery off her chest and was then able to concentrate on her mother's conversation.
 
Every day was a better day and she was feeling stronger all the time.
 
There was no need to be concerned for her as Mrs Bergman was keeping a close eye on her, and all was well.

After about fifteen minutes, Dafna and her mother said their farewells until the next time, and Dafna hung up.
 
It was time to leave for work.
 
There would be plenty to do once she was there.