Page 39 of Take Your Breath Away

Isabel shot him a look. “It’s supposed to be that way.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Stop fussing with it, Izzy,” Elizabeth said. “I like it just the way it is.”

Isabel glanced at the television, saw that it was tuned, as usual, to a cable news show. “Oh, you have to stop watching this all the time,” Isabel said, looking for the remote half-hidden under the covers near Elizabeth’s hand. She grabbed it, aimed it at the screen, and powered it off. “It just gets your blood boiling, and you hardly need that right now.”

Done with the flowers and the television, Isabel turned her attention to her mother. “Look at you. You’re all wrinkled.”

She could have been talking about the woman’s face, but she was referring to Elizabeth’s nightgown, which had bunched up around her upper thighs. Isabel tugged the hem down toward her calves and admired her handiwork. “That’s much better.”

Elizabeth sighed. Norman, still standing, had taken out his phone and was reading some online news.

Isabel glanced over at the window, which was shielded by a blind in the down position. “You need some light in here,” she said. “It’s a beautiful, sunny day out there. Norman, open the blind.”

“I’d asked them to lower them,” Elizabeth said, “because of the glare. Made it hard to watch the TV.”

“Well, the TV is off now,” Isabel said, and waved a hand at Norman to get busy doing what she had asked him to do. He found the drawstrings and raised the blinds to the halfway point.

“All the way,” Isabel ordered.

Norman brought the blinds up until sunshine filled the room. Elizabeth, squinting like someone enduring a police interrogation, used her hand to shield her eyes.

“Isn’t that better?” Isabel said enthusiastically. “It makes the room cheerier, if you ask me.”

“Whatever you say,” Elizabeth said wearily, turning onto her side so her back was to the window.

“So what have you been up to?” Isabel asked with relentless cheeriness.

“Well,” Elizabeth said, “last night I went bowling, and this morning I went into the city to do a walk around Bloomingdale’s but didn’t end up buying anything.”

Isabel frowned. “Come on, now. That was a serious question. Are you comfortable?”

“Not really much different than yesterday or the day before that or the day before that,” her mother said.

Isabel looked down at her mother for several seconds and looked as though she might start crying.

“Don’t,” her mother said.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t get all emotional and weepy around me. I can’t bear it.”

“I just love you, that’s all.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I know.”

“I want to do anything I can for you, is all. If you don’t like the flowers, I can take them away.”

“They’re fine.”

“You want some magazines? I could go to the gift shop and get you a New Yorker or something.”

“Reading is hard,” Elizabeth said. “I need stronger glasses and I don’t see any point in getting them now. The TV is all the entertainment I need.”

Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered, signaling to Isabel that she was going to fall asleep. At that moment the door opened and Albert walked in. Isabel immediately put her finger to her lips, shushing him in advance of any sound he might make. Norman looked up from his phone, took a step toward his brother-in-law, and extended a hand.

“Hey, Albert,” he said quietly.