Collins was quiet for a moment, watching Olivia pace near the garage entrance. Then he looked at me with that expression I'd been seeing too much of lately.
"What," I said. Flat. Not a question.
"Nothing." He picked up the other end of a cabinet. "You just look like you slept on your own floor last night."
"I slept fine."
"Okay."
We carried the cabinet to the wall in silence. We set it down and went back for the next one.
"She okay?" Collins asked.
"She's handling a twenty-thousand-dollar cabinet crisis. She's fine."
"I meant in general."
I looked at him.
He held up both hands. "Just asking."
"Mind the doors," I said. "Frank needs help with the shimming on the mudroom entry."
Collins took the hint. He disappeared around the side of the house, and I went back to unloading cabinets alone, which was what I deserved.
Olivia finished the call and walked over. She had that look she got when she'd won something—not triumphant, just settled. Like a problem had been moved from the active pile to the resolved pile and she could breathe again.
"Replacement lowers in ten days," she said. "They're expediting at no charge. And they're filing a damage claim on the four crushed uppers, so we should be covered on those." She paused. "If they can be trusted to get it right this time."
"Good."
"Driver's taking the wrong order back now." She glanced at the stack of undamaged uppers against the wall. "Walt can still install these today. Keeps him on schedule."
"Yeah." I picked up my end of the next cabinet. "I'll let him know."
"Ben."
I stopped.
She was looking at me the way she looked at a problem she'd decided to stop ignoring.
"You've said maybe twelve words to me today," she said.
"We've been busy."
"We're always busy." She tilted her head slightly. "What's going on?"
The cabinet was heavy in my hands. I set it down.
"Nothing's going on," I said. "We've got Walt waiting on the uppers. Can we do this later?"
She looked at me for a long moment. I watched her decide something.
"Sure," she said. "Later."
She picked up her clipboard and walked back toward the garage, and I stood there in the clearing holding nothing, watching her go.
Ah, hell.
