Nick had asked for time when he left Apartment 1A, so I gave it to him, with a dose of supernatural restraint. He’d stayed out all night, and even though I was itching to know what he’d done and where he’d done it, when he returned I acted like his disappearance was the most normal thing in the world. He’d found me curled up in bed reading Georgina’s first edition of Little Women, a tan leather volume so old that it only contained what the world now thinks of as the first half of the book. Amy March was behaving like a real brat when I heard his muffled steps on the thick hall carpet. He walked in still wearing the previous night’s sweater.

“Good book?” he asked.

“A classic,” I said.

We locked eyes.

“Busy day today?” I asked.

“Mostly a research day,” he said.

He blinked. I blinked. He smiled. I returned it.

“I’d better shower,” he said.

I scowled at his back as he closed the bathroom door. “Enjoy.”

I hadn’t asked him anything else. I need time didn’t mean Please quiz me about exactly how I spent that time, or Pressure me to announce whether, with respect to forever or the next five minutes, I need yet more time. Nick hadn’t come home with a new face tattoo or anything, so I resolved to let him process the blowup however he needed, at least until the damn state dinner was over. Making a good showing for the Dutch meant a lot to both of us, and the War of the Waleses had already done enough to imperil that. I did not press Nick for details, nor push him about his emotional state, nor do anything that might make this train careen any further off the rails; instead, I’d pasted on a smile and white-knuckled my way through, promising myself it would be temporary. We just had to pass the Dutch test.

It had been a long two weeks to get to this point. I was climbing the walls.

Kira clapped once, loudly. “You are somewhere else today,” she said. “Can we do this? Does he want to see?” She raised her voice in the direction of his office. “Nick, we’re frosting the doughnut.”

“No, no, he has too much on his plate,” I said hastily. “I’m good. Tiara me.”