Our friends are patient with us. I've been called away at the last minute for something urgent, and she follows me from the table to the door. There in the alcove we've got just a silk screen of privacy, but it'll have to do.

She hugs me before I even get my coat on. "It's gotten really cold all of a sudden," she murmurs. "Please, try and stay bundled up."

"Don't worry, love, I will." I kiss her forehead, stroking her cheek down to her neck.

"Promise me you'll call when you can?"

"I promise" I try smile. It peters out quickly. "I love you, Hershey."

"I love you too, Geoff."

I get my coat on and my gloves, give her another squeeze, and then pull on my hat. My hand on the doorknob feels so final. "I'll probably be back in just a day or two."

"I hope so."

"Me too, love. Have fun."

"You too."

We both hate the word goodbye; we both need the last word. I turn the doorknob and decide that she needs it more than I do tonight. Leaving is easier than being left. I've been on both sides of this coin, unfortunately.

Her face is so sad as I close the door. My wife is a terrifically strong person, and to see her holding herself like that, her tail flicking around by her knees, I know she had to be really unhappy. My stomach aches. Every last bit of me wants me to turn around and hold her until she felt better, but I've a made a commitment, and now that duty calls, I have to answer.

The worst of it is that it's probably not at all important. It's probably some triviality with Elias or his family that will keep me from my wife for at least a night, which is one night too long. I'll stay in some kind of impersonal if well-equipped room. I'll struggle to fall asleep, and I'll wake to the alarming sensation of falling when I realize that I've got the bed to myself.

As I trudge up the slight incline towards the capitol, the crispiest of dead leaves sound kind of like a soft rake on pavement. I'm not great with the cold, and I think about what an excellent night it would have been to be home with Hershey purring in my arms and a hot toddy in hand, to pet her belly as she dozes off on my shoulder. But it's a mistake. Thinking about comfort and warmth on such a night in November only makes me feel colder.