Four

Tess was lying on an exam table in her underwear with electrodes attached to her petite body, her eyes fixed on the screen, reading her heartbeat.

She didn’t have the first clue how to read the data, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

‘Tess, I need you to relax your body,’ said Dr Petrovic. She was a woman in her sixties with shoulder-length silver hair and deep crow’s feet around her sharp brown eyes.

She looked like the kind of grandma who was pretty nice in general, but you didn’t want to test her.

‘I am relaxed,’ Tess insisted.

‘Not even close.’

‘Doc, my morning’s been a shit show. I’m doing my best.’

‘Take some deep breaths,’ she suggested. ‘I can’t get a proper reading if you’re holding yourself like that.’

Tess took three deep breaths and tried to loosen up.

‘Better,’ Dr Petrovic said.

Two minutes passed in silence, which Tess spent preparing herself for the news that she had a dodgy ticker.

‘Well, that all looks healthy,’ Dr Petrovic announced.

‘It is?’ Tess asked.

‘You disappointed?’

‘No, I was just… prepared for different news,’ Tess said, trying to absorb the outcome.

‘With your family history, that’s to be expected. But it all looks healthy. No sign of heart disease at all.’

‘But the pains I told you about…’

‘Gastric reflux. You drink far too much coffee. I say it every time.’

‘I’ve given up sugar for the most part, and my salt intake is way down. You can’t take caffeine from me.’

‘I’m not taking anything. It’s just a recommendation,’ the doctor told her mildly.

‘So you’re saying that I could handle stress? If I had to? Like a big stressful situation isn’t gonna kill me?’ Tess checked.

‘I’m saying I highly doubt that your heart will be the thing that kills you.’

Tess sighed. ‘Shit.’

‘That’s bad news?’

‘In a way,’ Tess sighed. ‘I was planning on not doing something. But now I’m maybe going to have to do it.’

The doctor began to remove the electrodes from her body. ‘Can you be more specific?’

‘For my medical records?’

‘No. I’m just nosy.’

Tess smiled for the first time in weeks. ‘Fine. The cinema’s in trouble.’

‘Your mum would always say the same thing.’

‘No, I know. But… This is different. It’s a major renovation. We have to completely refurnish and fix a load of underlying issues I’ve been trying to ignore for a few years due to lack of funds.’

‘Shit,’ the doctor exclaimed.

‘Shit indeed. The dam has literally burst. And I just know the bank is gonna ask me to jump through hoops and then tell me to fuck myself anyway.’

‘You could just let it go,’ Dr Petrovic suggested gently.

‘I can’t,’ Tess said flatly.

‘I know your mum ran it for a very long time…’ Dr Petrovic began.

Tess could smell a counter-argument coming a mile away and wasn’t letting it get a foothold. ‘My grandparents started the place. Did you know that? It’s a bloody legacy. I’m like a Murdoch! No, hold on. Not them. Are there any non-evil legacy families?’

‘Not that I know of,’ the doctor said.

‘Then we’re the first. Unless I murder the loan woman,’ Tess muttered bitterly. She didn’t like Zara Shaw.

She was too polished, with her sleek honey-blonde hair, her immaculate business clothes, and a face like a porcelain doll. The vibes were smugness itself.

‘What loan woman?’

Tess sighed. ‘Just a peon of our capitalist overlords who’s trying to drag me to the seventh circle of financial hell.’

‘I see. Well, if the place is coming apart, that feels like a pretty strong exit route. No one would blame you for giving up.’

Tess didn’t say anything to that. It was a nice story. But it didn’t ring true.