As she packed, it was difficult to differentiate whose was whose, though the chargers were not precisely the same. One charger had been lost. One was in her hand.
“It could just be ours now,” Jeremy said.
“I do not want to be one of those women who can only talk about a weekend by beginning ‘We,’” Alexandra said.
Jeremy took her in his arms. “I wouldn’t dream of calling it anything but your weekend,” he said. “But I want you to be able to call. Take it.”
“You are giving me what might already be mine because of what you would want, so we don’t need to discuss whether you lost your charger.”
“Yes,” Jeremy said. “That’s empathy.”
“No, it’s not,” she said. “Let’s not fight before I leave. Don’t go to bed angry, or on an airplane, right?”
“Then I guess you can’t leave.” He smiled. “Or maybe I need to come with you, strictly to continue the conversation, of course.”
“You mean the fight.”
“A square is a type of rectangle,” Jeremy said. Then: “You will call me if you need anything.”
She turned from him. “I won’t need anything.”
“Except for better plane food,” he said.
She conceded to homemade frittata before the flight. There were fresh-cut flowers arranged between them, white and short blooms, plush almost to the touch. For her, he knifed a mango so that it resembled a dome covered in an armor of golden cubed fruit flesh.
“Oh, Jeremy,” she said, like it was an emotion.
“You like it?” he said.
“Where did you learn to do that with a mango?”
“It’s called the hedgehog technique.”
“This table would make a very good advertisement for marriage.”
“You’re the expert,” Jeremy said.
“I know you don’t mean on marriage, Jeremy.”
“And hard on yourself.”
“And late. Kiss me like you like me.”
“But I love you,” he said, bringing her face to him.
He leaned back and held her shoulders between his hands. He angled his face down to see hers in the shadow.
“You’re nervous,” Jeremy said.
A twist of lip. A shrug. “It is an important presentation.”
She left, and he dawdled with his books. From a bowl on the counter, Jeremy took his keys. And then he saw it: Alexandra had forgotten her briefcase by the door. And he felt odd, baffled. He went for a walk, and as he thought of all the possible things that could be out of place, maybe it was an impulse— he took out his other phone.
To Wright: Shop much in Germany?
Response: Good value.
To Wright: Seen that friend in London around?
Response: I don’t kiss and tell.
To Wright: Didn’t think the romance was that serious.
Response: Only three wee visits.
Jeremy replaced the phone in his bag. It was not supposed to have gone that far, if he was correct in his reading of Wright’s text.