Agency

In Which The Client Wants a Jumbotron

Monday morning

Allegra waited all weekend for the call from Bertrand: the call that inevitably comes after the mistress makes contact with the wife.

She braced herself for his outrage, his accusations that she was breaking unwritten laws, etcetera etcetera. When you're the mistress (assuming you aren't also married and with something on the line), the "laws" such as they are, don't really apply to you.

Fortunately for Bertrand, she was more interested in claiming the dog than she was in claiming him or that phone call would have been even more awkward. That said, she'd be happy enough if it landed her both.

That was more or less what she was expecting to happen. Like suddenly throwing the lights on in a cockroach-infested kitchen, calling the wife usually sent everyone scuttling for cover. And in the scuttle, there was opportunity.

But somehow, the scuttle Allegra had been anticipating hadn't happened. By Monday morning, she still hadn't heard from Bertrand. As signs go, she found she was unable to interpret this one.

She waited for him in his office, planning to tackle whatever he had to say and the question of Henry, head-on.

***

When Berry arrived at work, he tucked his expensive sunglasses into his jacket pocket and headed up to his office on the fifth floor. He was reviewing a mental list of to-dos in his head that started with contacting the Clan Council about this idea of sponsorship that he'd already sold the client.

Opening his office door to find a narrow-eyed Allegra sitting on the desk wasn't ideal. He had a lot to do this morning and was due back at the hospital by this evening. On top of all that, either he or Berenice would have to pick the girls up from their after school program before 6 pm -- a job they'd both gotten used to having Jim's help with. Things being what they were -- what they looked like they were going to be -- they would have to go back to doing things the way they'd done them before Jim had come to stay.

The first thing Allegra clocked when Berry entered the office was that he had not brought Henry. The dog's bed was in its usual spot beside the desk, but the dog himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Henry?" she asked, never having been one to put off the point.

Berry looked around, having momentarily forgotten about the dog. Where was he, anyway? Berenice hadn't actually said.

"Allegra, I have a lot on my plate right now. I need to--" he indicated his desk and his desire to get behind it.

Her narrowed eyes got even narrower.

"I'm sorry... am I in your way, Bertrand? I'll ask again. Where is Henry?"

Berry sighed. "I don't know, Allegra, but I know he's safe. I've been in the hospital with my father. Waffles – er, Henry – is being looked after by a friend of Berenice's for the moment."

Allegra considered this. It was clear what Berenice was up to, but she knew enough to approach the matter softly.

"Is your father alright?" she asked gently.

Berry shook his head. "Unfortunately, not. He's very ill. Cancer. It's not good."

Allegra approached him and put her arms around his stiff shoulders in an awkwardly personal embrace.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Bertrand. Should you really be here in that case?"

He shrugged and again attempted to get behind his desk.