“True.” I smile, warmed through at the thought. “Okay, I’ll catch you later.”
“Yeah, see ya.” He gets in his car and heads off home with Bearcub.
I know that Dad had a meeting here this morning, and I’m hoping he’s still around. I go to his office, and sure enough, he’s in there, at his desk, on his phone. His door is half closed, and I stand in the doorway. He’s facing away from me, his feetpropped on the windowsill, looking out at the gardens, so for a moment he doesn’t realize I’m there.
“…yeah I’ll be with you by six,” he’s saying. “But I need to go home tonight. She’s organized a meeting of one of her groups tomorrow and she wants me to be there to meet and greet.”
I lean on the doorpost, arms folded. Anger flares inside me. He’s talking to his girlfriend in the city.
“I know,” he murmurs. “I don’t want to do it either, but it’s about keeping up a front. We’ve been through this. You know I’m not doing it to hurt you.”
He must have switched his gaze from the view of the garden to the reflection in the glass, because he obviously sees me, and he sits up hurriedly and drops his feet to the floor. “Gotta go,” he says into the phone. “I’ll call you later.” He ends the call, puts the phone on his desk, and gets to his feet.
I slide my hands into my trouser pockets. “Next time, maybe you should think about closing the door.”
“I thought I had.”
We study each other from across the room for a moment.
“It’s not what you think,” he says eventually.
“It’s exactly what I think. Mum told me.”
He stares at me. Then all the fight goes out of him. He exhales, his shoulders slump, and he lowers into his chair.
“You need to sort it out.” I go into the room and take the chair on the other side of his desk. “It’s not just going to go away.”
He looks past me, out to the gardens. “I know.”
“You’re not treating either of them well, Dad. I don’t know who this woman is, but she deserves better, and so does Mum.”
He sighs.
“She wants to stay in the house,” I say. “She’s comfortable there.”
“So am I,” he snaps. “My family built that house. I don’t see why I should give it up.”
“You should give it up because she’s spent a lifetime with you. She’s given you two children. And you’re the one who’s cheating.”
“You don’t know the full story. Nobody knows what goes on in a marriage.”
“Dad, I spent eighteen years in that house with you both. I know exactly what went on. I know it takes two to tango. She’s not an easy person to live with. And she’s made mistakes. But she’s your wife. And she deserves honesty. It sounds as if your marriage is over. So what’s the point in hanging on to it by your fingernails?”
“I’ve spent years building my reputation. My business relies on me being trustworthy and respectable.”
That word again. “Fuck respectability,” I say savagely. “It’s meaningless if you’re unhappy. I don’t like the thought of my parents divorcing. But if you’re both unhappy, why stay? Who is this woman, anyway?”
He squares his phone on his desk. “Her name’s Ataahua. She lives in Wellington, but she travels a lot.”
“Where does she work?”
“At… the Beehive.” It’s our government building.
I blink. “Not Ataahua Ratana?”
He nods.
Shit. She’s a top National Party politician. It might be the twenty-first century, but it still wouldn’t reflect well on either of them if it came out that they were having an affair.