the next minute she can be normal,” Ally contributed defensively, because she didn’t want him to lose sight of that.
“And the minute after that she could be confused again,” he countered. “Did you talk to her about having a physical or letting me order some neurological tests?”
“I tried. More than once. She shot me down every time. Angrily. She says she’s fine.”
“But you’re seeing for yourself that she isn’t.”
Ally shrugged. “Something is up,” she acknowledged. “The trouble is, she’s the most like herself when she’s adamantly refusing to do anything about it.”
“That’s where you come in.”
Ally sighed. “You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think that I’m the one who can get my mother to agree to anything. The truth is, I’m the last person she listens to.”
“Then you’ll have to be more take-charge with her than you’ve ever been before.”
“Take-charge? With Estelle Rogers? That would invite a power struggle that would make her dig in her heels worse than she already has. She doesn’t do what she doesn’t want to do.”
Jake’s dark gray eyes pinned her in place as he seemed to weigh something.
Then he said, “I’m going to be straight with you, Ally—giving in to Estelle, not doing anything about her health or what’s gone on here the last two days, isn’t an option. Before you got there today, the E.R. doc wanted to call in Social Services. It can be done for geriatrics the same way it can be done for minors in jeopardy. The fact that Estelle lives alone and that there are indications that it isn’t a safe situation for her anymore is enough for them to step in. If they do, they can control what gets done with her and where she ends up living.”
Ally could feel the color draining from her face.
“Seriously? That can be done with an adult?”
“Anyone considered at risk,” he reiterated. “I told the E.R. doc that you were on the way—that kept it from happening today. But if you can’t deal with this, I’ll have to call a caseworker myself.”
“You’re threatening me?”
He shook his head. “I’m telling you the way the system works. I can’t force a friend to get medical attention, but I am legally obligated to notify authorities if I know of anyone who’s unable to care for themselves.”
Ally had had just about enough for one jet-lagged, nearly sleepless, enormously stress-filled day. She lost it.
“What do you want me to do, physically force her to have tests done? Apparently you—who she likes and respects and who carries the authority of being a doctor—haven’t been able to convince her to have the tests you want to do. But you think I can come in here and work some kind of magic on one of the most stubborn people who ever walked the face of the earth? Me, who she still blames for—”
She caught herself. “Who she still thinks of as an irresponsible kid?”
“What does she blame you for?”
Of course. He was a shrink. He wasn’t going to let a Freudian slip like that go by.
But Ally wasn’t going to bare her soul to him, no matter who he was or what he did for a living.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, no longer shouting but sounding no happier with him than she had. “I’m just saying that I’ll do whatever I can, but don’t expect miracles.”
He was watching her closely and she wished she could push a rewind button and go back to the moment before she’d spoken so carelessly. But if he thought silence and scrutiny were going to make her uncomfortable enough to spill more of her guts, he was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Still, when the silence went on longer than she could bear, she sighed and said, “I’ll keep working on her and see what I can do. Who knows, since she’s changing personalities every hour, maybe she’ll wake up tomorrow morning with one that’s agreeable. But, Jake, please don’t call Social Services until I see if I can fix this.”
“It may not be fixable,” he cautioned, calmly, quietly, and in a way that told her he was going to drop his quest for an explanation. “If Estelle has Alzheimer’s—”
“Can we just stick to what I can deal with this weekend while I’m here?”
“This weekend? This weekend is only the beginning.”
And he was on the attack again—Ally heard that familiar impatience in his voice.
“If your mother has Alzheimer’s,” he continued, “there won’t be an easy solution. And one way or another—”
“I know!” she said to stop him from saying more that she just couldn’t hear tonight. “I know, I know, I know!”
Exhausted, Ally sank onto the corner of her bed.
To his credit, he got the message that she simply could not handle the big picture right then.
He switched gears, his tone calmer, more consoling. “Why don’t I see if Bubby can come over tomorrow? She can be persuasive—and as stubborn as they come if she needs to be. Maybe if the two of you gang up on your mother, she’ll listen.”
“An intervention of two?” Ally said facetiously.
“Pretty much. I’d make it an intervention of three but I’m the keynote speaker at a conference tomorrow that I can’t miss. But if you and Bubby together can’t get through to your mother tomorrow, I promise I’ll add whatever influence I have to convince her to have those tests done.”
Ally had been staring at the floor but she glanced at him then, finding a kind smile on his face.
He got up and came to stand in front of her, reaching a big hand to her arm and squeezing it comfortingly. “I know this is rough.”
Did he also know how warm his hand was? How strong? How good it felt and that something elemental in her sparked?
“Let’s just take it a day at a time for now,” he added, his deep voice drawing her from her thoughts. “Tomorrow we’ll bring in reinforcements with Bubby, and then we’ll go from there.”
Ally nodded.
“Get some rest,” he advised.
Ally nodded again, shocked by how sorry she was when he let go of her arm.
She got to her feet. “I’ll walk you out and peek in on my mother to make sure she’s still asleep.”
Jake led the way for the trip back through the house, opening the front door when he reached it.
But he didn’t immediately go out. Instead, he turned to look at her. “I’ll check in again tomorrow night.”
Ally nodded, gazing up into those smoldering
