Character Q&A: August Hall

August and I are in his kitchen, me on a stool, him over his stove. His apron is stained with flour, the sauce bubbling in the pot behind him, his focus fixed on his wrist as he moves between pots.

“Gigi should be home any minute, by the way,” he says, dipping a spoon into the pot and blowing over the sauce before tasting it. He nods, satisfied, then walks the spoon to the sink. “It’s date night… one of the few we can squeeze in between her art projects and my private clients.”

It’s late afternoon, one of spring’s pleasant days. The dew from the rain the day before sparkles under the bright sun as the sounds of an early dinner sizzle around me.

“The quinoa is the final thing that needs to be prepared, and it’s on the stove.” He turns to look at me, a smile on his lips, rubbing his hands together before pulling out the stool across from me. “So that means you have fifteen minutes to get what you need and go.” He presses his hand to his chest. “Respectfully. I really hate to keep my wife waiting.”

And I get it. Love it, actually. Enough to get right to it.