Chapter 10 - A Name on Every Line
Mr. Flores studied Nate's grid through his bifocals and made a small disapproving sound.
"Why are you at every station?"
"I'm the backup."
"You're the only backup. That isn't a plan. That's a man standing under a falling piano and calling himself a support beam."
Nate grinned despite himself. The retired bus driver had a gift for making criticism sound like weather.
They walked the school halls with Ms. Bell to mark where parents could enter without crossing classrooms still in use. Nate asked the custodian, Mrs. Ortiz, about chair storage. She told him which doors stuck and which folding tables had broken wheels.
"Ask me before you move furniture," she said. "Half the time, people make my job harder while saying they're helping."
"Fair."
Mrs. Ortiz looked surprised by the answer.
At pickup, Tessa asked whether he could email the shortened plan to the parent group. "I told Meredith the two-reading schedule might actually work."
"You used to agree with her about everything."
"Not everything. I just don't enjoy arguing next to my kid's classroom."
Tessa glanced at the curb where her son was hopping over cracks. "I shouldn't have laughed the other day. When she made that joke about you being unemployed. I didn't say anything, but I laughed."
"I noticed."
"I'm sorry."
Nate accepted the apology without pretending the morning had vanished. "Thanks for telling me."
That night the parent committee voted to keep reading night, pending staffing confirmation. Meredith sent a careful note thanking everyone for adjustments and calling the new format a group effort. Nate stared at it, annoyed at how little credit he felt he'd received.
Leah read it over his shoulder. "Did you want the children to have an event, or did you want a press release?"
"I'd settle for a small engraved plaque."
"I know you would."
Josie came in carrying the family calendar. "You said you'd be there the whole time. Why does it say you're working at the gym while I read?"
Nate reached for the marker. "I can move that."
"You promised last time too."
May you like
The simple sentence hit harder than anything Meredith had said.
