What is patrick maloney referring to when he says "i know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you" in the story, "lamb to the slaughter"?

It was a bad time because her wife was pregnant with his child,  which means the decision of Patrick on left the house and the marriage shock her even more because of her hormonal state. He knows it's not decent to end the relationship with her at nearly months of being future parents and says to her wife to not make a scandal because that will affect his prestige as a police

that is the way of a cheater and cheaters get nothing but bad grades and in trouble.