White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 10

Trifecta

"Hey. See you later, Satchmo," Peter pat the dog, moving around with his coffee in his hand. "EI, have you seen my jacket? The blue pinstripe."

"Yeah. I've got it," he heard from his wife upstairs.

"Okay." He scanned the messengers on his phone.

She came down suit jacket in hand.

"Is it this one?"

"Yeah," he smiled. And then he realized why he had been searching for it, unable to find it. "Oh. You have a meeting today. I was supposed to pick up the dry cleaning last night." He had had no thought of it whatsoever. "I am so sorry."

"Honey, it's okay. I got it."

He took the jacket but when he put it on...

"Wait... Wait a minute. You never called to remind me. Did you assume I'd forget?"

El was arranging her material on the sofa table.

"I knew you had a lot on your mind."

"I don't wanna be the husband that forgets to pick up the dry cleaning."

El sent him a glance.

"That's sweet." No smile, no kiss.

"But I am!" Peter returned to the table to pack his briefcase. He had forgotten!

"Relax, okay? I'm not mad."

"You are," Peter said. It was not completely true, but she sure was not happy. And he was mad at himself. "You're gonna hold on to it all day."

"Really?" El asked from the sofa. "Would I really do that?"

Peter was not sure if she was sarcastic or if she had no clue that she had a hard time letting go sometimes.

"No, never," Peter answered to be on the safe side and not widen the debate. El flew off the sofa.

"You're the one who forgot the dry cleaning."

"See?"

Satchmo wined and left for the kitchen.

"Now you scared the dog," El blamed him.

Peter felt as far from the perfect husband as he possibly could be. On top of that, he had a nagging feeling that he could have just left it when El said she wasn't mad.

"Add that to my list of imperfections."

"Okay, look. I don't wanna be the wife that has to call and nag you to do things," El said as she took her bag. "It's a lot more effort to remind you. I don't even know if you're gonna remember."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was such a foregone conclusion."

"Neither did I. Can we stop this?"

"Yes. Please."

"Okay." El looked at him. "I've gotta go to work."

"Me too."

El walked around the table, stood close to him, and looked up at his face.

"Have a wonderful day." Sounding as if it came from a tape recorder. She gave him a kiss on the mouth.

"You too."

She looked at him as if she expected something, turned, and left. Satchmo returned as the door closed.

"Yeah, that could've gone better," Peter agreed. "You didn't help."

Neal walked towards the FBI office with Mozzie as a company.

"So, what do you think Keller wants?" his friend asked after Neal told him what happened the day before.