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Paul has work he should be doing, but he procrastinates for hours before he makes himself face it. When he eventually does, he sits with his laptop and his notes and tries not to be too aware of the spaces where Alex isn’t, or the clock and how slowly it’s moving. In the afternoon, when the space and the quiet finally get to be too much, he puts his iPod on and loses another hour running.
He showers again when he gets back and feels a pleasant burst of satisfaction when he sees Alex’s toothbrush, forgotten or deliberately left, by the sink. Eventually he calls his sister, Sarah, but that turns out to be a mistake. She keeps asking him how his weekend is going, and he can’t give her any detail without admitting he slept with J. Alex Cook. Sarah watches The Fourth Estate and knows who h
