Chapter 25
Nina retreated down the drive, out of earshot, to make the phone call. ‘Dad’s back, thank God,’ she said. ‘But there was some sort of fight. He’s all beaten up.’
‘Damn,’ said Ric. ‘I was afraid of that.’
Was that it? No I’m sorry for what my crazy father did. No Max is a lunatic. Just ‘I was afraid of that.’
‘What about Max?’ she asked.
‘He’s still not back.’
Nina hung on the phone while the silence yawned between them. She twisted the unfamiliar ring on her finger as she ended the call. That feeling was back, the unease she often felt at day’s end. Her knees began to tremble with weariness and she hurried back inside. In the kitchen Mum had a washcloth and the Dettol out. She winced in sympathy with each dab at Dad’s battered face. ‘We’d best get your father to the doctor
