“You are always running,” he said. “Always looking at the clock.”
The smell of damp wool from our winter coats hung in the narrow space between us.
I looked down at his leather shoes, then up at his chin.
“This project represents five months of system integration,” I said. “If we do not launch by nine, we lose the contract.”
“Then let them lose it,” Douglas said, his pitch rising further. “We have other priorities now.”
He adjusted his collar again, his thumb digging into his neck.
I stood there with my coat half-sleeved, wondering how I could get past a six-foot man without a physical struggle.
The silence between us stretched until it was broken by the sharp scrape of a chair from the dining room.
Gertrude sat at the mahogany table, a plate of cold toast and eggs in front of her.
Her gray hair was pinned up with a plastic comb, and she tapped her long, manicured fingernails on the polished wood.
“Douglas is only looking out for your health, Savannah,” she said in her slow, patronizing drawl.
“I am perfectly healthy, Gertrude,” I said, walking into the dining room.
“A woman who works seventy hours a week is not healthy,” Gertrude said, tapping her thumb against her teacup.
“This apartment is starting to feel like a cold office,” she added, her eyes scanning the minimalist room. “There is no warmth here.”
“The maintenance bill alone is six hundred dollars a month,” I said, pulling out a chair. “Someone has to pay it.”
Gertrude smiled, a slow parting of her lips that did not reach her eyes.
“You always bring everything back to the balance sheet,” she drawled. “It is very unappealing.”
Douglas walked in from the hallway and stood behind his mother’s chair, his hands resting on her shoulders.
“She is right, Savannah,” he said. “Your salary is all you seem to care about.”
I looked at the two of them, framed against the high window.
The morning light was gray and thick, typical for late October in Seattle.
My father, Walter, had bought this apartment ten years ago, but Douglas and Gertrude spoke as if they had built it.
“I care about keeping our bills paid,” I said.
