“I think so,” Falk said, although possibly believing it for the first time.
“So. No kids of your own.” Naomi was still looking at him. She raised an eyebrow. “How about girlfriends? Got one of those?”
“Nope.”
“Oh my goodness. More than one, Aaron?”
He laughed. “No. Fewer.”
“I see. Just curious.” Naomi flashed him a teasing smile. She wasn’t interested herself, he felt sure, but was watching him with the private satisfaction of a woman who’d received the right answer.
“Does—” he started, then stopped as Rita reappeared. Her face was a little worried. “Everything okay?”
“Oh. Yes, thanks.” Rita let Falk top up her coffee mug, but her face didn’t change.
“You sure?” He glanced at Raco, who also seemed flat.
“It’s just…” Rita swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee and grimaced. “Is this whole thing ridiculously insensitive?”
“What thing?” Naomi blinked. “The christening?”
“Father Connor mentioned Kim in passing as he left.” Raco’s voice was a little subdued. “Saying he was glad we’d rearranged after last year.”
“But so many people are going to make that connection,” Rita said. “Remembering why we canceled. The fact it’s the anniversary. All of it.”
Naomi reached across the table. “I realize people are always claiming to know what someone would have wanted after they’re gone, but honestly, Rita? Kim would’ve supported you in this.”
“Yeah. I mostly feel that, too.” Rita’s mouth tightened. “But then I can’t stop thinking about last year. That I should have made more of an effort at the festival. I mean, Kim had a six-week-old baby, for God’s sake, I know how hard—”
“Come on.” Raco put his palm on her back. “Don’t.”
“I know, but I keep coming back to that moment early on, at the toilet block. I had the chance to catch her then and I still didn’t bother.” Rita looked to Falk for support. “You remember?”
“Yeah, Rita, I do, but—” It was clear from her guilt that they recalled the incident differently.
They hadn’t been at the festival long, and the opening-night crowd was continuing to grow as twilight drew in. Falk had been standing with Rita, watching Raco and Eva on the carousel, when Rita had leaned into the stroller, sniffed, and said, “We need a toilet stop.”
To Falk, who was draining his beer, that hadn’t sounded like a bad idea, either. “I’ll come with you.”
Rita had waved to Raco, released the stroller brake, and she and Falk had wandered over together. The toilets were housed in an ugly gray cinder block structure that at least looked clean and well maintained.
“Oh my God, look at that queue,” Rita had said as they approached, and Falk followed her gaze to the line snaking out of the women’s side and around the corner. The entry to the men’s side beckoned, wide open and empty, and Rita rolled her eyes.
“You go ahead,” she’d said to Falk. “If I’m not out before the festival closes, tell my husband to send supplies and—”
“Rita, hey. How are you?”
Rita had turned at the voice. “Rohan! Hi there, how nice to see you.”
The man waiting outside the toilet block was jiggling a stroller with his foot, and in each hand held an ice cream, one almost eaten, the other melting fast. He’d seemed a little stressed but had smiled as they’d gone over.
“Rohan, this is our friend Aaron,” Rita had said, distracted as she’d peered into the stroller where a baby girl was asleep. “Oh, is this Zoe? She is so beautiful. Look at that hair. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. You, too.” Rohan had grinned approvingly at baby Henry. “He’s a fair size, isn’t he?”
“Definitely feels it when I pick him up.” Rita’s smile had fallen away as she glanced at the endless line for the women’s toilets. “Is Kim inside?”
“I’d really hope so, by now.”
“That slow, is it?” Rita had said, nodding at the melting ice cream.
“Yeah.” Rohan’s face had clouded as he scanned the queue. “I mean, it looks to be moving, but—” He’d shrugged. “If you see Kim in there chatting, tell her Zoe and I are about thirty seconds away from eating this ourselves.”
Rita had laughed. “I’ll—” She’d stopped, inhaling sharply as the door to a nearby portable toilet creaked open. An elderly woman with a stick stepped out. On the door that slammed shut behind her was both a wheelchair and a parent-and-baby sticker. There was no one else waiting.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry, this is a parental perk I can’t say no to.” Rita had spun the stroller around smartly. “Really lovely to catch you, Rohan. Tell Kim I’ll call her.”
“No worries.” Rohan had raised his wife’s dripping ice cream in farewell.
“I’ll see you back out here!” Rita had shouted over her shoulder to Falk as she’d peeled off, making a beeline for the empty cubicle.
Falk had said goodbye to the man who was now trying to stop melted vanilla trickling onto the stroller and had gone into the men’s toilets.
He’d been at the sinks when he’d heard a familiar voice through the open window. Raco, he’d thought immediately, but no. The pitch was deeper. Charlie.
“Hey,” Charlie was saying. “Before you head off, you said hi to your mum yet?”
“Dad. No—” Zara had sounded frustrated. “I’m supposed to be meeting Sophie right now. They’re all waiting for me.”
“Zara, mate, seriously. Come on, don’t make me do this. Rohan and Zoe are right there. Your mum won’t be far off. At least say hello to your sister.”
“She’s a few weeks old; she really doesn’t care.”
“Your mum will, though.”
“She won’t.”
“Of course she will. They’ve come all this way to see you.”
“Dad,” Zara had snapped. “Jesus, she won’t. Stop trying to force it.”
“Force what?”
“The family thing.”
“We are all family.”
“No, we’re not. Not like that. Whatever you do or don’t do. Why can’t you—”
“Hey. Watch it, thanks. Don’t speak to me like—”
“Okay, fine. Sorry. But you really need to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“You know what. This. About Mum. Look, I’ve got to go. Okay? My friends are waiting for me.”
“Zara—”
“Tell Mum I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”
Falk had washed and dried his hands and walked outside. He’d half expected to see Charlie making conversation with Rohan, but neither man was there. The spot where the stroller had been parked was empty, except for a splattering of ice cream drips in the dust. Falk had leaned against the wall and waited, and a minute later Rita came out of the parents’ cubicle.
“All good?” she’d said, and Falk had nodded and together they’d headed back to find Raco and Eva.