CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ONE MINUTE

Part One

She didn't say anything.

Alexander straightened up slowly, still breathing hard, and waited. Mia looked at him through the glass. Then she turned and went back to her desk.

He walked to his own. He sat down. The printer hummed beside him.

He lasted until ten.

At ten he stood, crossed the floor, and stopped outside her door. It was open. She was reading something on her laptop.

He knocked on the frame.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a minute?"

She didn't look up. "Is it about work?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of."

"It's about this morning."

She closed the laptop and looked at him.

"Come in."

He came in and stood in front of the desk. He didn't sit. He had learned that much, at least.

"I was late," he said.

"I noticed."

"By one minute."

"I noticed that too."

"I'm sorry."

Mia tilted her head. "I didn't say anything."

"I know."

"I didn't write you up. I didn't tell Daniel. I didn't even look at the clock."

"You looked at the clock."

"Fine. I looked at the clock."

"That's why I'm here," he said. "You said no special treatment. Everyone else gets in trouble when they're late. If I don't, that's special treatment."

She stared at him for a moment.

"You came in here to ask me to punish you?"

"I came in to apologize."

"For one minute."

"For the rule."

"The rule." She almost smiled. She caught it, and it went away. "The rule is seven forty-five. You've been here at six every morning this week."

"Not today."

"No. Not today."

"I want to be on time," he said. "It matters to me. I'd like to be the person who's on time."

"Alexander."

"Yes?"

"What happened?"

He let out a breath. "I took the subway."

"You took the subway."

"I took the wrong one. For six stops."

There was a long pause.

Mia put her hand over her mouth. Her shoulders shook once. He realized, with real surprise, that she was trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry," she said through her fingers. "It's not funny."

"It's a little funny."

"Six stops?"

"I ended up under a bridge."

She lowered her hand. Her eyes were bright. She looked, for a moment, like someone he used to know.

"It happens to everyone," she said. "The first week."

"Did it happen to you?"

"I got off at the end of the line and had to call a friend to come get me."

"You had a friend?"

"I had one." The corner of her mouth moved. "She still does it. Mentions it."

He didn't say anything. He didn't want to break whatever this was.

She seemed to notice at the same moment. The smile faded. She picked up her pen.

"The rule stays," she said. "Seven forty-five."

"Understood."

"You were one minute late. I'm not going to do anything about it."

"But…"

"This time."

He nodded slowly.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me."

"Then I'll just…" He gestured vaguely at the door.

"Go."

He went. He was halfway across the floor before he realized he'd been smiling.

Part Two

The subway home was easier.

He checked the number on the front of the train three times. He counted the stops out loud under his breath. When the doors opened at his station, he stepped out with a quiet, stubborn kind of pride.

It was a small thing. It was the smallest thing. He thought about it all the way up the stairs.

The evening was cold. A thin rain had started, just enough to make the pavement shine. The hotel sign flickered at the end of the block, and his shoes squelched a little with each step.

He was a few doors away when he saw her.

A woman stood under the awning, beside the entrance. She was tall, with pale hair pinned up, and a long camel coat that looked expensive even in bad light. She held a small black umbrella. She wasn't looking at her phone. She was looking at the street, the way people look when they've been waiting a while.

He slowed down.

Then he stopped.

She turned her head. She saw him. For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then she smiled, the same polished, practiced smile he had seen at a hundred dinners.

"Hello, Alexander," Victoria said.