After a while I glanced again at the clock.
"Say, have you just come to ask about my clothes for the trip or did you have another reason?", I asked him then. David shook his head and said nothing, but I noticed that he was lying.
"I absolutely hate you lying to me! This was one of the first things you learnt about me back then.", now I was actually grumbling and David flinched a bit. The last time he heard this intonation of mine was about three or four years ago.
"It's okay, Mad! I just had to prepare myself mentally again, you have just surprised me.", David murmured and then he drove his right hand through his hair. This was a habit of him whenever he was embarrassed.
I sat upright suddenly, or I involuntarily pushed my back straight. Usually, David never was embarrassed by anything, that was my specialty. That's why I rubbed the tip of my nose nervously.
"Now I have to ask you to excuse me, but I can't travel to Rome at short notice."
"Why that?", I asked him surprised obviously.
"My father got involved in a car crash and is now in a coma. I have to stay here and help my mother.", he was speaking in a low but firm voice. I took his hand to comfort him a bit. He squashed my hand as soon as he noticed.
"That's out of question! I understand you.", I mumbled and embraced him softly. David and his father had a great relationship, they were quite close to each other. I have always envied him because of this. Even if his father was the CEO of their private bank, which was in the capable hands of their family for generations, he always found the time to see his son or to talk.
"What happened?", I heard myself asking David.
"Some idiot ignored the red light and drove with high speed into the driver's side of the car my father was driving. They had to cut him out of the wreck.", David sighed and I saw him fighting against tears.
"What about the bank?", I asked him then. He was majoring in Economics and Italian to inherit the CEO position later on. So he wasn't doing exactly the same thing as I.
"Uncle Ralph is helping out on short notice and I'm starting to work on Monday for the time being.", now David almost sounded listless.