Over the Fence (14 page)

Eva couldn’t help but accept his logic. “Well, I suppose it’s none of my business that you’re killing yourself by overeating.” Eva stood up and brought her father another cutlet. “To balance out, there will only be bread and cheese this evening.”

Her father beamed. “I’ll survive somehow.” He tore the crust off his second portion with gusto, and Eva took the breading off his plate again.

After lunch, Eva cleaned the windows in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. When she took a step back, her father pointed at the window with his crutches. “It’s still streaky.”

She polished the glass again.

“Outside, too,” her father commented.

“It’s never going to be one hundred percent streak-free,” Eva said and closed the window.

“Your mother does it.”

Eva held up the microfiber cloth. “But I don’t. You’re welcome to take care of it.”

He raised his hands up defensively.

“That’s what I thought.” Eva pushed her hair from her face. “I’m going to take a shower. Then we’ll drive over to the hospital.”

They got to the hospital much later than Eva had planned. The evening meal was ready to be served, but they had to cut the visit short because Kati planned to bring Rafael over to the house around six.

When the nurses left, Eva’s father sighed loudly. “I can only dream about three meals a day at home.”

Eva’s mother wrinkled her forehead.

“All you have to do is put butter and jam on your bread by yourself and then you’d have three meals!” Eva snapped, a little more harshly than she’d intended.

“I’ve never had to butter my own bread,” her father said.

Her mother looked at Eva, then at her husband.

Eva was boiling over with frustration. “So then, there’s no breakfast!”

“You can definitely prepare your own bread,” Eva’s mother said softly to her husband. “You put everything out for him?” she said, turning to Eva.

“Of course. I put the coffee machine in the dining room so he couldn’t complain and still . . .” Eva swallowed the rest of her words.

“There you go,” her mother said as she picked up a hard roll from the serving tray.

“Why doesn’t the kitchen prepare the food with the patient’s injuries in mind?” Eva shook her head. “Come on, I’ll make a proper sandwich for you.” Eva took the bread out of her mother’s hand.

“You don’t have to do that.” Her mother tried to fend her off. “I just bite into the bread first, then I take a bite of sausage. It all ends up in the stomach anyway.”

“So you do that here for her, but you can’t do that at home for me?” Eva’s father said.

“Mama’s arm is in a cast! Yours isn’t!”

“You’re such an ungrateful child!” her father bleated. He hobbled out as fast as his crutches could carry him.

She cut the roll in half and put cheese on one half and sausage on the other. Then she cut up another sausage in little pieces so that her mother didn’t have to spear the whole thing with a fork. All the other parts of the meal were prepared so that her mother could eat without a problem.

“Does he always make this kind of fuss?” her mother asked.

Eva stopped herself from blurting out everything and calmly said, “He’s acting like he’s going to starve although he had two giant cutlets for lunch.”

“But he took the breading off them, right?” her mother asked with a smile.

“Exactly. Because it makes you fat.” Eva had to laugh again. “And I thought he only did that in front of me.”

“No, he’s been doing that since he saw a report that said fried stuff makes you fat.”

“Of course. So when you put away ten cutlets, you’re only going to get fat because of the breading.” Eva leaned back in her chair.

Even her mother’s roommate cackled. “And I thought I was the only one who had a lord and master like that at home.” She sat up and looked at Eva. “Don’t make the same mistakes we did in our time. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t even try. It’s just plain embarrassing how he carries on.” Eva turned back to her mother. “Papa has to understand that I work at night for the advertising agency because I get too distracted during the day.” She looked at her watch. “Unfortunately, we have to go. We’ll come again tomorrow.”

Eva kissed her mother on the cheek, wished everyone a good evening, and then embarked on a search for her father.

He was waiting next to the car. Eva unlocked the door and opened it for him. He just grunted.

He didn’t say one word during the drive back home. Eva saw no reason to apologize. If he was going to pout like a child, that was his business.

Kati pulled up to the house at the same time Eva did. While her father spoke with Kati, Eva put the car in the garage and closed the door. Then she entered the kitchen.

“I brought beef rouladen for your lunch tomorrow,” Kati said. “All you have to do is warm it up.”

“Oh, Kati! You don’t know how much I appreciate this.” Eva inspected the beef rouladen, dumplings, and red cabbage. Although Eva never would have made this meal in the summer, it would save her a lot of time in preparing something for her father.

“One hand washes the other,” Kati said. “I hope you and the baby will get along a little better today.”

The little guy beamed in his seat.

“We definitely will,” Eva said, even though she wasn’t so sure.

“I’ll be back in two hours.” Kati gave her son a kiss and left.

Even though Eva’s father barely said a word to her, he took charge of caring for his grandson. He rocked the baby’s seat, which made Rafael giggle. After ensuring that the baby was in good hands, Eva checked her e-mail and answered the most important messages.

Eva hardly noticed how long she had been working until Kati came back. Rafael hadn’t cried at all. Grandpa’s rocking had made him fall fast asleep.

After Kati and the baby left, Eva prepared supper and placed it wordlessly on the table in front of her father. If he didn’t want to talk, he was going to get his wish. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of trying to cajole him into speaking with her.

Then she went back to work. It went surprisingly well. She had the second design saved before midnight. The next morning, she and the ad agency would discuss the layouts, and on Friday, the client would be able to look at them.

This was a good reason to celebrate, and she poured herself a glass of red wine. She took it to the terrace, sat down, and looked out into the night. This weekend was the village festival, and Caro had called her asking whether she wanted to go. Eva didn’t really want to, but sitting around the house with her petulant father didn’t seem like an appealing prospect either. So she agreed to go on Saturday evening. Would David be there, too? In the last few days, she had successfully avoided him. She asked herself over and over why he had kissed her. And just as often she told herself that it didn’t matter because she was going back to London soon anyway.

Eva emptied her wineglass and decided to go to bed so that she could at least make a decent impression during the videoconference call the following afternoon.

Eleven

Eva woke up at nine the next morning. She sleepily stretched out in bed and then forced herself to get up and get ready for the day.

She went outside to pick up the mail and found the newspaper between the junk mail, bank statements, and colorful brochures. Of course. She steeled herself before going into the dining room, sure her father hadn’t bothered to make breakfast for himself. She gave her father a cheery, though unacknowledged, “Good morning,” then handed him the newspaper. She gathered up the bread, jam, butter, and coffee machine, put them back in the kitchen, and made breakfast for herself. With a fresh cup of coffee and a plate of toast smeared with jam, she sat in the dining room and looked out the window. Her father didn’t react at all.
Now this stubborn mule will have to wait until lunch to eat,
Eva thought as she chewed. Fifteen minutes later, she cleared off the table and decided to call Sally. Her curiosity about what her colleagues thought gnawed at her.

“Hi, Sally,” Eva said when Sally picked up the videoconference call. “Anything new?”

“Yes. Matthew has decided it would be better for you to make the presentation on Tuesday. You can fly here in the morning and go back in the evening.” Sally pulled out some papers in the background. “I’ve got the boss’s note about it here. The client expects a presentation by the designer and opinions from senior management. You have to be here.”

Me?
Eva thought, suddenly nervous. “Then I guess I’ll have to be there,” she said, though her throat had gone dry. “I’ll look for some suitable flights. Are we still going to have a meeting today?”

“No. Everybody approved the designs. You can even take a break until Tuesday. The work will really start when we get the contract. You know that, right?”

Eva nodded. “That means the campaign for the entire product line is at stake, right?”

“Exactly. You can’t imagine how nervous everybody is here. It would be the biggest contract in years.” Sally sighed. “The bosses are covering all their bases, so the rest of the designers have to work over the weekend on additional ideas, because they think they’ll come up with something better.”

If another colleague came up with a better idea, she’d be out. Nobody had told her about that part. “I’ll send you my flight data. Can somebody pick me up from the airport?”

“Just take a taxi. The company will pay for it, of course.”

“All right. I’ll e-mail all the details,” Eva said and hung up. “Shit!”

Eva went back into the dining room. “Even though you don’t want to talk to me, I have to tell you something. I’m flying to London on Tuesday, and I don’t know what time I’ll be back. I’ll ask Kati whether she can bring lunch over and prepare something for you for supper. And if you keep thinking it’s beneath your dignity to butter your own bread, you could very well have a damn long hungry day ahead of you, especially if Kati doesn’t have time for you in the evening.”

Her father looked at her and shrugged.

“That’s your decision,” Eva snapped and went to wash the rest of the windows. During a break, she warmed up some of the food Kati had brought and placed it on the dining room table without comment, even though her father sat in the living room. The smell would be enough to attract him.

Three hours later, she’d washed all the windows and mopped the floors. The sun burned brightly, and she wanted to drive to the lake to escape the oppressive atmosphere in the house. Her father had ended up eating everything. His empty plate still sat on the table as proof.

Before going to the lake, Eva visited her mother, dropping off a couple of newspapers for her to read. Eva’s mother reassured her that her father would calm down soon. He had called that morning, and she was convinced that spending a few hours alone on Tuesday would do him good. Her father could do a few things by himself. He could at least manage to shower. The bathroom would probably be underwater afterward, but it wouldn’t be his fault. It was very difficult to shower while making sure your cast didn’t get wet. And in an emergency, Aunt Inge was still a viable option.

While Eva drove to the lake, she considered whether a visit from Aunt Inge could be therapeutic for her father.
Yes
, she thought. Maybe she’d call Aunt Inge and ask for help. Maybe her father would finally try to be reasonable.

But her father wasn’t being reasonable. She’d gotten up early on Friday and Saturday and made his breakfast because she hadn’t had to work all night. But he still hadn’t spoken to Eva unless it was to boss her around when he wanted something. He didn’t even try to be polite. On the Thursday prior, Eva had been plagued by guilt. But that changed during the course of her father’s blatant disrespect on Friday and Saturday. “Get me the newspaper!” “Bring me a beer!” “I’m thirsty, fill up the water jug!” and “Is the food ready yet? I’m hungry!” Not one kind or polite word came out of his mouth. He wouldn’t even say “please” and “thank you.” Eva’s decision to let Aunt Inge take care of him was set in stone now, especially since she had to fly out at noon on Monday to prepare for the presentation on Tuesday.

It would do her good to disappear for two days. Her father’s behavior was really getting on her nerves, and her constant brooding about David’s kiss didn’t make the situation any easier. Leonie had asked if she would watch her play soccer on Friday, but Eva had made up an excuse. She didn’t want to see David again. While he oversaw the kids on the soccer field, she swept the driveway so that she wouldn’t run into him on Saturday morning. To fight her burgeoning boredom, she even dusted and vacuumed the house again. She needed to do it anyway since Aunt Inge was coming.

As Eva put away the groceries she’d picked up that morning, she realized that she was now glad Caro had called her about going to the village festival. There weren’t any more important household chores that needed to be done, and sitting around with her bullheaded father was a terrible option. Eva laughed softly and shook her head over her situation. She was so desperate to get away that she was actually excited about going to the village festival.

Eva looked at her watch. She could squeeze in a swim at the lake and stop by the festival to buy some rolled beef for her father while there was still time. She only had about two hours before she’d have to be home for lunch.

She put on her bikini, threw on her airy summer dress, picked up her towel, and went to the car. Just thinking about taking a little swim instantly improved her mood. She turned the radio on and volume up and drove off.

There weren’t many people at the lake this time of day. Half the village would be at the festival. Volunteers would be serving food and drink during the midday rush and manning the shooting gallery and lottery ticket stalls, collecting their profits.

Eva laid her towel on the grass, jumped into the water, and swam until her father’s stubbornness melted away. She returned to the shore and sprawled out in a shady place to dry. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment of peace and quiet.

The next thing she knew, she was squinting into the sun, which had started to move into the horizon. Eva looked at her phone and was shocked to see that it was two o’clock. She had fallen asleep, and her father had been waiting for lunch for two hours. Frantically, she scooped up all her belongings and hurried to her car.

When she arrived at the festival, there were swarms of villagers everywhere. The beer drinkers occupied benches everywhere, and servers quickly pushed pitchers of beer over counters. Thankfully, the food stalls didn’t seem busy. Eva bought some food tickets and stood in a short line.

“Two orders of rolled beef with potato salad, to go,” she ordered.

The woman packing Eva’s food was the wife of the farmer who drove his tractor full throttle past Eva’s house. She considered mentioning the incident but decided to just accept the food. She paid for it with her food tickets. There was a dessert stall nearby, so Eva decided to bring her father a piece of cake. That would surely patch things up with him. And if it didn’t? What was the worst that could happen? He already wasn’t talking to her. She put the food on the passenger’s side floor and drove home.

Inside the house she called out, “Papa, I’m home. Sorry that I—” The remaining part of the sentence stuck in her throat. She saw her father’s head poking out from the top of the basement stairs. She set the food down on the hall table and rushed to the stairs. “What the hell are you doing?”

Her father was leaning on the stair railing with one hand and holding on to his crutch with the other. He had been somewhat more active in the last few days, so Eva shouldn’t have been too startled to see him on the stairs.

“You’re never here when I need you!” her father roared.

Eva noticed that her father was wearing an old backpack. She heard the rattling of bottles with each step up he took. “What are you doing?”

“It’s none of your business,” he muttered.

When he got to the top, he walked past her and straight to the kitchen. Eva raised her eyebrows, took the food from the hall table, and followed him.

In the meantime, her father had taken his backpack off and put it on the counter. With a satisfied grin, he pulled out several beer bottles and opened one.

Eva was stunned. “Oh, so that’s what you got?” She put the food next to the beer bottles.

“If I can’t get anything to eat and can’t go to the festival, then I’ll drink some beer.” He put the bottle to his lips and took a big swig.

Eva was speechless. Her father was unable to butter a piece of toast even when everything was set right in front of him. He couldn’t get out of the house to get the newspaper. And he allegedly was unable to pour a glass of water. But he was able to find his backpack, go to the basement, fetch some beers, put them in the backpack, put on the backpack, then climb the stairs.

He also could have taken some bread out of the bread box and made himself a sandwich with cold cuts. But no. What did he do instead? He got beer out of the basement. He looked at her triumphantly.

“OK, I give up,” Eva said. She set the table and put the Styrofoam boxes of food in the middle. “Your food is on the table, and you can obviously carry your own beer. I’m going to call Aunt Inge and ask her to come tomorrow. And I can’t promise you I’m coming back from London. You might have to learn to cope with your sister.”

His face fell, his look of triumph gone. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh, I definitely can!” Eva said. “And you don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m not ten years old anymore, ergo quite old enough to make my own decisions.”

“If you do that, I’ll—” her father started.

“You’ll what? Stop talking to me?” Eva laughed. “You already did that, even when I did everything for you. I stayed, even though I knew Aunt Inge had already offered to help. But no, you didn’t want that! Much better to boss your daughter around when she’s trying to help! But I’ve had enough!” Eva stopped yelling, took a deep breath, and spoke more softly. “I can’t do it, and I won’t do it anymore. I have a full-time job that I have to do at night so I can help you during the day. But what did I get in return?” Eva sighed and tried to suppress her tears. “Here’s what I got: disrespect and ingratitude. Plus you ordered me around like a field sergeant. I’m not a recruit, and I’m not one of your employees, although that’s what you might think.” Eva looked at her father with tears in her eyes. “Besides, I have a boss who thinks very highly of me. And in order not to disappoint him, I’m flying back. If I wasn’t certain before about whether or not I would be returning, your actions have made the decision crystal clear.”

Her father’s eyes grew wide. He hesitated, seeming to want to say something. When he didn’t say a word, Eva turned and left the room.

She had a nice phone conversation with her aunt, who immediately agreed to take care of her brother. Now Eva had to inform her mother of her decision. On the ride to the hospital, she pondered whether she should return home after her presentation so that her relationship with her father wouldn’t be utterly destroyed.

Eva’s mother immediately saw that something had happened. Eva told her how the situation had heated up in the last few days.

“Sometimes I could just kill him,” Eva said finally.

“This just isn’t like him,” Eva’s mother said. “He can be as stubborn as a mule, I know, but this has gone too far.” She pressed a button, which moved her bed to a more upright position. “He brought this upon himself. He won’t have it so easy with Inge. Why he refused to cooperate with you is beyond me.”

“Papa didn’t know Aunt Inge had told me about her offer to help,” Eva said with a grin. “You should have seen his face.”

Her mother smiled. “Don’t worry. Sometimes your father just needs a little time to see the error of his ways. I know that for sure.”

Eva was silent.

“Take care of your work, and if you want to come back, then come back. But don’t worry about Papa if you need to stay in London.”

“Are you sure? Aunt Inge is moving in tomorrow, and she says she can manage him. But Papa doesn’t want her to come.”