tags ✦ ✧ ✦ His mother had broken her hip, but she still refused to consider moving into an old age home. Adam left her hospital room with a splitting headache, wondering if he needed to be a patient to get some advil. Mother was...well, she was certainly strongminded, and although he did understand her desire for independence, the ex-cop wasn't sure what she wanted. He had Karen couldn't take care of her: they had little kids at home, and there was no way they'd be able to split their time and resources between the kids and his mother to everyone's satisfaction. As he headed toward the elevator, Adam turned over the problem in his mind. If only he could convince Mother to hire an aide, or figure out some other solution.
The elevator was pretty crowded, and full of people who didn't quite look each other in the eye, like every other hospital elevator he'd been in. Mechanically, he ordered a cab, and was already halfway out of the car when he registered that no, this wasn't home. Adam blinked slowly and started to turn to ask the driver to bring him home, but the cab had already zoomed off. He'd given the driver his mother's address. For many years, she'd ran a successful bookshop, and although it had since been sold to other hands, she still lived in a three bedroom apartment above the store, accessible only by a small alleyway.
He glanced at his watch and rubbed a hand through greying hair. Karen was probably busy now; he couldn't ask her to pick him up, and although it was only a mile and a half back to his place, he wasn't up to a twenty minute walk. Well. He could kill some time in the bookstore, and call his wife a bit later. Nodding decisively, he started toward the store, already flipping his phone out to shoot Karen a text. Eyes and hands busy, before he'd gotten past the entranceway, Adam collided with someone, sending bags flying. "Oh—sorry!"