The heavy links of Grant’s gold watch clicked against the marble kitchen island as he snapped his leather briefcase shut. Caroline did not look up from the two blue lunchboxes she was labeling with a silver pen, though she heard the precise, metallic slide of the brass latch.
Upstairs, the quiet thumping of their twin daughters, Lily and Grace, getting dressed for school vibrated faintly through the ceiling. The girls were late, but Grant had not offered to help them find their shoes.
The dishwasher hummed in the corner, sending a steady, warm draft of steam into the damp cold of the Pennsylvania October morning.
Grace finally ran into the kitchen, her shoes untied and her blonde curls tangling around her ears. Caroline knelt down to tie the laces, her fingers moving quickly while Grant checked his reflection in the glass of the microwave.
He smoothed his hair back with one hand, his gold ring catching the overhead light. Caroline watched him, noting how he avoided looking down at his daughter as she tugged on his trousers.
“Be careful, Grace,” Grant said, stepping back out of her reach. “This suit is fresh from the dry cleaners.”
“I will be late tonight,” Grant said, his hand lingering on the brass buckle of his bag.
“The girls have gymnastics at five,” Caroline said, her voice remaining quiet and even as she folded a linen napkin into Lily’s box.
“Stephen wants to go over the new commercial real estate filings before the weekend,” Grant said.
He adjusted the stiff collar of his white shirt, his fingers brushing the heavy gold bezel of his watch.
Caroline finished writing Grace’s name on the second box and laid the silver pen beside the wooden breadboard.
“You said the commercial files were completed last month,” she said.
Grant laughed, a short, booming sound that seemed too loud for the narrow kitchen.
“Nothing is ever truly finished in development, Caroline,” he said.
He picked up his keys from the counter, the brass ring jingling against his palm.
“We have to think about the family legacy now, Caroline,” he said.
