0 March Secret Agent #1

TITLE: THE MONKEY CHARM
GENRE: Women's Fiction (upmarket)

I should have kissed my husband good-bye that morning. Or at least leaned over and embraced him, pressed my cheek against his.

But he had been irritable since he had woken up. As we were leaving the house, he had spied a balled piece of paper beside our daughter’s knapsack.

 “Want to bet this is Chloe’s homework?” he said. He unfurled the page. It was an algebra test. Chloe’s mark: 7/41.

 “Let’s wake her up,” he said.

I grabbed his coat sleeve. “Honey, it’s seven o’clock in the morning. She’s asleep.”

“Maybe she should be up studying math.” 

 “Let’s talk about this later,” I said, “when we’re not in a rush to get to work. Didn’t you want to prep for your meeting with the deputy chief?”

He grumbled a reply but picked up his briefcase and we headed out to the car.

“You were tossing and turning last night,” I said to him as we drove. “Are you still sick?”

He shrugged. “Just a headache I can’t shake.”

We were quiet for the rest of the drive. He stopped at the Old City Hall court where I worked.

 I turned to him: “How about soup for dinner? That’s good for the flu.”

“Sure.”  He gave me a wan smile.

I waved as he drove away, but he didn’t look through the rear view mirror. I turned and hurried up the shovelled steps of the court house, the scent of Bob’s cologne momentarily clinging to my scarf.