“They’re too much in bed with China,” Doug said, nodding.
Carver ate a piece of toast and shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable. The breakfast nook had been designed more for show than actual sitting; the pillows were overstuffed, and the sunny yellow cushion atop the hard white bench was wearing thin. Another silence fell. He found himself trying to chew as quietly as possible, then realized all at once that he had to leave this place today. He couldn’t take another morning of this, it simply wasn’t in him.
“What are you guys doing today?” he said.
“I have to run some errands,” Doug said, eating more egg. “I need to call the gutter people.”
“Josie and I are going to go for a walk later this morning,” Nora said. “And, like I said, I’m probably going to call Christopher and tell him to get us away from Apple.”
Neither of them looked at Carver as they responded. It wasn’t malicious, he knew, it just didn’t occur to them to.
“Great,” he said.
“What about you?” Doug said.
Carver ate more toast. “Go for a run, maybe, and figure out how I’m getting out of here. I was going to call a few car rental places.”
Nora glanced at him again. “Where’s your car?”
“I let Lillian take it back to the city. I might just call a ride, though.”
“Yeah, I’d do that instead of renting,” Doug said. “Or do you two not own another daily driver?”
Carver drank some coffee and shook his head. “It’s basically just the Maybach and a few sports cars. We don’t drive much in the city, Lillian has a driver we both use.”
“You should start driving one of the sports cars,” Nora said drily. “You’re getting divorced, right? It’s appropriate.”
“I’d have to go bald or gray first,” Carver said, and was gratified when they both laughed.
“What do you think about Apple?” Nora asked him.
“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I’d probably hold if I were you.”
“Really?”
“They’ve got my generation and younger in a chokehold with the phones, Mom, it is what it is.”
“But Steve Jobs is dead,” Doug said, glancing between them.
“Steve Jobs has been dead,” Carver informed him.
“And there’s the China of it all.”
“Well, we’re not gonna quit buying shit from China anytime soon, I’ll tell you that for free.”
“Please no swearing in the breakfast nook,” Nora said. “I’d like to hold onto one or two norms in this house.”
“Maybe also hold onto your Apple.”
“Okay, we will not fully exit our Apple position, happy?”
“Thrilled,” Carver said, sipping his coffee.
Doug shook out the newspaper and held it open, squinting at it.
“What’s going on with the gutters?” Nora said to him.
“Hmm?”
