Not Now, Louise

I heard the kitchen go quiet as I came down the stairs and knew Louise was waiting. She had a way of standing between the island and the door that wasn't accidental. I was thinking about Queenstown and about what Harrison was bringing me at eight, and I did not have room for whatever this was.

She started as soon as I was in the doorway.

"I was thinking. You could take Kain with you this morning. Drop him at the Kingston site on your way in."

"Kingston? That's completely out of my way. I'd be adding an hour to my morning, easily."

"Forty-five minutes. If you take the Southern Outlet and the traffic's moving."

"The traffic's never moving at this hour, and you know it." I emptied what was left in the pot into my travel mug and got the lid on. "I'd have to drive all the way through the city, past my own office, down to Kingston, then double back again. The board meeting's at nine."

"I just thought it might be nice." Her voice changed on that. "For you and Kain. Some time together."

I stopped with the mug halfway up. There was an answer to that and I wasn't going to give it to her, not this morning, not standing in the kitchen with the clock running.

"Kain's got his own vehicle," I said. "He doesn't need me to chauffeur him around."

"That's not what I—" She stopped herself. "Never mind. It was just a thought."

I drank the coffee and looked somewhere past her shoulder while I did it. Then it occurred to me there was a simpler solution.

"What about Rebecca? She's going into the city, isn't she?"

"Rebecca left twenty minutes ago. Early client meeting."

She left the rest of it out, which was generous of her. Rebecca hadn't spoken to me since Sunday and Louise had been carrying that silence around the house for three days without once asking me to fix it.

I put the mug down harder than I meant to and pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose.

"Louise, I can't. Not this morning. There's too much—" The rest of it wasn't hers to hear. "Harrison's bringing the quarterly security review. There are concerns about the Queenstown facility, and I need to be across all of it before the board convenes."

"Fine." Flat. She'd stopped bothering to hide it. "I'll let Kain know he's on his own."

I was already past her and reaching for the coat on the hook, the wool one she'd bought me for my forty-fifth and that I'd never properly thanked her for.

"Tom."

I stopped with one arm in the sleeve and turned back. There's nobody else who calls me that. I stood there waiting for the question I couldn't answer.

"What?"

"Your tie's crooked."

I looked down and straightened it. "Better?"

"Better."

I went out through the front door and heard it settle behind me, got into the car and reversed down the drive, and watched in the mirror until the gates had closed properly behind me before I turned onto the road.