The Undoing

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“I’m a grown man, Katie.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“Only that years of experience have made me wary of surprises.”

“You shouldn’t be wary of this one, because it’s excellent.”

“Hmm. What are you up to now?”

“Five foot three.”

“Seriously. What.”

Kate sighed as Julian leaned back in his chair. His friends had turned back to their drinks and conversation, lost under a low din of chatter and the chink of plates and cutlery from the open kitchen behind them. She had tracked them down to Paco’s, finally, where they sat amid a detritus of ski clothes and half-eaten lunch.

“Come with me—I’ll show you.”

“I’m eating,” he said. “And we haven’t paid the bill yet.”

“You can come right back.”

He took an enormous bite of pulled-pork sandwich and pointed at the plate of fries.

“This is meant to be a hot meal,” he said.

“Okay, okay. But hurry up.”

He raised his eyes to the ceiling. Not quite an eye roll, but almost.

He didn’t know what she’d gotten him, though. Once he saw it, he’d understand why she was so excited to show it to him. She helped herself to his Coke, tapping her foot while he finished the last bites of his lunch. He wasn’t in any hurry at all. With every bite he looked up as if to point out the fact that she was watching him eat.

“You’re driving me crazy,” she said around a mouthful of fries.

“That makes two of us.”

“Don’t you even want to know what it is?”

“What what is?”

“The surprise, for fuck’s sake, Julian. Try to follow the plot.”

He wiped his hands on a paper napkin, which tore as he used it, leaving shreds of paper all over his fingers. He summoned the waiter by holding up his sticky hands. “Cheap-ass paper napkin. Bring me a real one, will you, please? Like, out of cloth?” And to Kate, “Okay, honey, lay it on me.”

“You have to close your eyes first.”

“I’m not doing that.” When the napkin came, he wiped his hands, tossed some bills on the table and zipped his wallet back into the breast pocket of his jacket.

“Jesus. Fine. Come on then.”

She took his hand and led him outside, leaving everyone else behind with their coffees. Through both sets of double doors, down the icy steps and into the snow. At high noon the sky was so flatly blue that it looked like plastic. All the shadows stood narrow and hard under the glare of the sun, the pine trees spiked and dripping.

When they reached the corner of the lodge, Kate stopped.

“Ta-da!”

Parked beside the building was a brand-new snowmobile. Glossy red, sleek as an apple, with a fine spray of snow over its bonnet. Kate held out the keys.

“Happy birthday,” she said, an unstoppable grin spreading into her cheeks.

Julian’s face didn’t change at all. He didn’t take the keys.

“You are unsurpriseable,” she said.

“Ye-ah.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Oh, I like it. It’s just...a lot of present, Katie.”

“Well, it’s your birthday—”

“How did you know about that? Nobody else does.”

“Well, somebody does, obviously.” She tried to smile.

“Nobody.”

She felt her face redden. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.

“Have you been snooping around my stuff?” he said. “My wallet, maybe?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then how did you know.”

“Your mother told me, last month.”

“My mother told you.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t even know my mother.”

“Well, I do now, a little.”

“How did you even get her number?”

“From my phone, of course. When you borrowed it to call her a couple of months ago.” No need to explain how she had dialed and hung up twice before she found the voice to introduce herself and strike up a conversation. And how awkward it had been, as if Kate was the first person the woman had talked to in years. She kept asking whether Julian knew Kate was calling, in a hopeful voice like the phone call would have meant more if he had instigated it.

Which it would have, of course, but why point it out? Why treat Kate as though she were being dishonest when she was only trying to do something nice for Julian?

“Let me get this straight,” Julian said. “You called my mother, weaseled my birthday out of her—”

“Saw it was coming up and scored you a prezzy! I know—clever me, right? It’s really sweet, too. I rode it up here to meet you. I thought we could play on it this afternoon.”

He stood back, eyeing the snowmobile as if it were still on the lot and he couldn’t decide whether to take it home.

“Come on—let’s go for a spin,” she said.

“I’d love to, but I have plans for the day.”

“Just with Zig.”

“I have plans, Kate.”

“Why are you being such a dick right now? This is a present that I bought you for your birthday. It’s supposed to be fun.”

He looked at her as if bewildered by the concept.

“But, I mean, what am I supposed to do with it? I don’t live here. I don’t have any place to store it.”

“You can leave it in our garage. There’s plenty of room.”

“Then really it’s yours, isn’t it?”

“No, of course not.”

“But I’d have to ask to take it out, right? Someone would have to let me in to get it?”

“Sure, but—”

“So then it’s yours.”

“Well, you don’t have to keep it at our place, obviously. Stash it wherever you want. I’ll ship it for you, if there’s somewhere else you need to be.”

She was offended now, and Julian sighed.

“That’s not the point. And I do appreciate the thought, truly. But let’s just call it a loan. We can go out on it tomorrow, okay? I promise. Not today.”

“You have plans.”

He stepped closer and chucked her under the chin with his forefinger, smiling indulgently as if he’d just granted her a huge favor.

“I’m not trying to be a dick. It’s just too much right now.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Sure.”

But her throat was tight and the back of her mouth stung with bitterness.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back inside. I’ll get you a hot chocolate and schnapps.”