He had stopped nodding off. Instead, he was pacing and producing reasons why a wife suddenly took up with another man. Suddenly? He felt tonight’s ratatouille start to web in his stomach.
He heard a key in the lock and decided not to ask where she’d been. It was good to feign indifference and also to give space. He was not sure which tactic would help, but he was glad for one stone, two birds.
Only it wasn’t Kay at the door, but Erin and Tennessee.
Olgo stood. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
Erin said, “Where’s Mom?” And she started to cry. Her high ponytail of yore was crestfallen, and the hair was ballooned in all directions. Tennessee, who had, from the looks of it, been crying for hours, crumpled to the floor to pound the linoleum with her fists. She did not want to sleep here. She wanted to go home.
Erin flopped into a second armchair. She was obviously forsaking her daughter to Olgo, who rushed to the kitchen to make hot chocolate with marshmallows. He set up Tennessee in the guest room with the TV on.
When he came back, Erin said, “Jim changed the locks on the apartment. We had a fight. He says it’s his place, he pays for it, and we can’t stay there. Says he’s got too much work to deal with us right now.”
“He threw you out? My God.”
“He’s an ass,” she said. “And I bet his girlfriend’s coming over. That trampy little hunchback.” She looked around. “Where’s Mom?”
“She went to the store.”
“At midnight?”
“It’s not midnight.” But Olgo would not check his watch. If it was midnight, there was the distinct possibility Kay had passed into a mind-set in which she did not intend to come home at all. Not until morning, in any case.
“Can we crash here for the night?” Erin said. She unlaced her boots. “Might be for a couple nights, actually.”
Olgo returned to the kitchen to make tea. Erin followed.
He said, “Since when is the Defense Department God? Last I heard, you could work for the government and still have time for your wife.” He said this with more heat than he would have liked, and quickly tended to the kettle.
They sat on either side of the counter, on bar stools.
“What’s Mom getting at the store? What could be so important?”
“Women stuff,” he said.
“Dad, what is going on? First you ask about Mom’s hair, and now she’s out past midnight on a Sunday. A Monday.”
“Let’s talk about Jim. We need to get him out of that house. You need to get a locksmith and do unto him and so on. So much for your mother’s little tête-à-tête today. She said it went well!”
Erin hooked her toes over a rung of the stool. “You don’t know where she is, do you.”
Olgo slammed his mug on the counter. It was empty; there was no effect. “No, okay? No. I think she is out with friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yes. Your mother has friends. And so do I. We do not have to do everything together. We do have separate lives. It’s what makes a marriage work.”
Erin was on her feet. “Are you saying I was too clingy with my husband? Are you saying this divorce is my fault? Because last I checked, he’s always off doing some secret something or other. And you know what else? I didn’t ask you.”
“I’m talking about your mother and her friend. This has nothing to do with you.”
“What friend?”
“Friends. She has many. I am speaking in general.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you said friend. As in one.”
“I’m going to check on Tennessee.” But Erin stopped him.
“You know, Dad, people change sometimes. They need new things. They get involved with new things.”
“Erin, really. It’s late. We can talk about the birds and the bees tomorrow.”
“Has it occurred to you,” she said, “that Mom might be in trouble? Not out with her friends, but in trouble?”
“Don’t be silly. She’s not in trouble.”
“How do you know? You asked if I’ve noticed anything weird about her, and the truth is, I have.”
“Your mother is a capable, intelligent woman. She’s fine. Don’t worry.”
“Dad, I’m trying to tell you something.”
He began to pay attention. His glasses had slipped down the bridge of his nose; the pads were greasy. “What sort of trouble?”
“Well, you know how Mom’s gotten all therapy lately—”
“No, I don’t know that.”
“Yeah, okay, so you know how Mom’s gotten all expressive lately? I think she’s met some people. Or someone. And I think that someone has ideas about some things and that maybe those ideas are exciting for a person who’s gotten all hippie a little late in life and missed out on all the sixties stuff. I mean, what, Mom was just a wife or whatever, hardly an exciting experience if you’ve got a passion for the hurt of people’s lives.”
“Since when do you talk like this?”
Erin poured herself more tea. “I might have been at a meeting or two with Mom.”
“Please don’t say it’s the Helix. And how many is one or two?”
“Me, two. Her, twelve.”
“Twelve? Erin, the Helix is for wackos!”
“Could be thirteen.”
“Erin. What are you talking about? Your mother has never been interested in community work, hippyism, whatever you want to call it. And, okay, we haven’t seen so much of each other since I started my new job, but I have not heard a peep out of her about it.”
“I think she figured maybe you wouldn’t have the patience.”
“She got that right.”
“Or maybe”—and here she began to pulp her words, which was what people did when they wanted you to hear but not hear what they were saying—“maybe it’s just that you’re part of the problem.”
“I’m the thing she’s going to the Helix to solve?”
“Dad, how much do you really know about the Helix?”
“Nothing.” This was not true, but he was feeling so petulant and infantilized by this hint of how much bigger the world was than him that he’d reverted to the best juvenilia there was. No, no, no.
“Just keep your ears open, that’s all I’m saying. Tomorrow I’ll try to reach my lawyer and deal with the apartment. It’s going be hard. Jim seems to have everyone in his pocket.”
“What a shit,” Olgo said. “And what do you mean That’s all I’m saying? If you know something about your mother that I don’t, you have to tell me.”
“Don’t raise your voice. I just think if no one knows where she is, maybe she’s with this person she met and maybe they joined the Helix for real.”
“What the hell does that mean? Is this a spiritual thing? A quest? Your mother is soul searching?” He did not have any idea what Erin was talking about, only that she’d conceded some kind of poverty in his marriage such that Kay had gone off to find her bounty elsewhere. “Never mind,” he said. “I’ve heard enough. Really. So your mother’s run off to join the circus. I’m going to bed. I expect she’ll be back in the morning. You need anything? There’s more blankets in the closet.”
He headed for the bedroom and closed the door. Waited for Erin to join Tennessee and then said a short prayer. Please let her come home. He had gone to bed without his wife only once in thirty-five years, and then only because she had left on short notice to see her father. He stared at the closet and bureau. Pressed his elbows into the mattress because he was on his knees. Opened doors and drawers. All items belonging to Olgo? In place. All items belonging to Kay? Gone.