“He had to get back to Auckland.”
“Really? Bar emergency?”
“Nah, he’s allergic to responsibility and I think he might have wandered into some feelings and had to get away from them before he caught a chronic case of maturity.”
“So he left you to take care of everything as usual?”
“I wasn’t like this when he left. I’d only had about a half a bottle and I even got dressed like I was going in to work. Fooled him,” Jack said with a hollow laugh. He nodded toward the pile of clothing on the floor, a suit and shirt and shoes. It was just then she noticed he was sitting around in his underwear and the t-shirt she had once borrowed from his brother’s bar. She wondered if he’d chosen it intentionally because of Charlie or because of her. Or if he had been cold and drunk and grabbed the nearest shirt, was more like it.
Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I could probably use a shower.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and take one? I think I’ll try to tidy up,” she said, looking around.
“Never mind that. I have a cleaner coming in tomorrow. If tomorrow’s Thursday.”
“Tomorrow’s not Thursday. Today was.”
“So where the hell’s the cleaner? I ought to call her agency.”
“My guess is she knocked and you wouldn’t let her in.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, trust me.”
“Fair enough.”
“If you get cleaned up and rest a while, I’ll buy you a steak.”
“At Tamarind? I thought you might punish me with lobster.”
“Punish you for what? Being sad?”
“I’m sure you’ve tried to reach me. I had my phone off.”
“No you didn’t. I heard it ring when I was in the hall.”
“Okay, so I ignored it. It’s exactly like turning it off except lazier and more irritating.”
“Well, then, let’s turn it off for now. You can deal with voicemails tomorrow.”
“How many did you leave for me, out of curiosity?”
“One. I figure if you want to call me back, you will.”
“That’s brave talk from a woman who threatened to break down my door.”
“In flip flops. That was the definition of an empty threat, Jack.”
“Not nec
essarily. I have great faith that you could borrow an ax and dispatch with that door in no time.”
“So I’d go knock on doors saying, hey can I use your ax?”
“Sure. It’s a little more original than borrowing a cup of sugar, but very few people would probably dare to dissuade you when you were determined and required an ax. It would be smarter to simply hand over the hatchet.”
“Go take a shower and we’ll talk when you’re finished.”