Savannah continued talking. ‘Like, I’m really grateful to you both for doing this, and to your parents, your parents are fab.’ Fab. Odd choice of word. Circa 1990? ‘They’re, like, one of a kind. Amazing people. Truly.’
Amazing people. Troy looked at Logan. They’d heard a lot of that growing up: Your parents are so cool. Your parents aren’t like other parents with boring office jobs. We wish we had parents like yours.
‘It’s all good,’ said Troy. ‘No problem a-tall.’ He twisted around to smile his most dazzling smile at her. She smiled back. A girl had once told Troy that he had a ‘devastating’ smile. He secretly treasured that compliment. Devastating.
‘So we take a left here, right?’ said Logan.
Troy jerked his head. He had not bothered to ask the location of Savannah’s unit, but had assumed they were heading over the bridge to some suburb he’d never heard of, way out in the boondocks, right under a flight path or two. Instead he saw they were driving through a hip harbourside neighbourhood where he himself had lived in his twenties. He’d had after-work drinks at that pub on the corner. He’d taken dates to that little Thai restaurant. This was an area for IT guys in hoodies, junior execs in high heels and law graduates in new suits. People here were too young and happy, attractive and cashed-up to hit their girlfriends.
‘Go straight at the roundabout,’ said Savannah. ‘And then it’s the big apartment block right there. That’s it. There’s heaps of visitors’ parking.’
Troy craned his neck. ‘You must have good views?’ He realised he was now feeling more sympathy towards her, as if someone who lived in this suburb really didn’t deserve a violent boyfriend. His neck turned red with shame.
‘Our unit doesn’t face the harbour,’ said Savannah. ‘It’s just a one-bedroom. They reduced the rent because it’s got a really crappy kitchen and bathroom. It’s the only un-renovated apartment in the building.’ It was like she was explaining how they could afford to live here, like she’d seen his neck and read his thoughts.
Logan parked and he and Troy got out of the car, unwinding their bodies with relief, the way men of their height did when released from cars and aeroplanes.
Logan removed from the boot a couple of supermarket cardboard boxes that their mother had given them for Savannah’s belongings, while Troy stuck his hands in his pockets and kicked his heels against the pavement. He looked about for any nefarious types but the place was deserted. Everyone would be at work right now. This wasn’t an area for young families.
‘Um . . . is she getting out?’ Troy said to Logan after a moment.
Logan shrugged. He ducked down to look. ‘She’s just sitting there.’
‘Should we give her a second?’ said Troy.
Logan shrugged again. It was like his default gesture.
They waited.
‘How’s Indira?’ asked Troy.
‘She’s fine,’ said Logan, his face blank.
‘You still living –’
‘Yes.’ Logan cut him off. So they were still crammed together in that crummy one-bedroom townhouse Logan had bought decades ago. Troy’s mother had mentioned that Indira wanted to move a few years back but that had obviously gone nowhere.
‘How was New York?’ Logan asked, without discernible interest.
‘Great,’ said Troy.
As far as Troy knew, Logan had never been to New York. Imagine never having been to New York and acting like it didn’t matter. Did Logan even have a passport right now? The thought of not having a valid passport made Troy hyperventilate but Logan seemed to live his life within the confines of a tiny radius encompassing his workplace, their parents’ house, and the homes of his married-with-children high school friends. Today’s exciting adventure to Savannah’s apartment might be the furthest Logan had travelled in years.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t had the opportunities: Logan was offered a tennis scholarship to the University of Chicago, two years before Troy was offered one at Stanford, but he’d turned it down. He’d said, No thanks, I’m good, without apparent regret.
In fact, all four of the Delaney children had been offered tennis scholarships to prestigious American universities. Troy was the only one with the brains to take the offer, the only one capable of seeing what a chance like that could mean to a Sydney public school kid. It still infuriated him. His brother and sisters could have changed the direction of their lives. They thought it was a decision about tennis.