Chapter 11 - The Number
At the committee's final budget meeting, Meredith brought up the cost of keeping the gym open for an extra hour.
"I can't ask parents to stay late and cover tasks they haven't agreed to," she said. "We may have to cut the second reading block."
"I can make calls," Nate said. "There are two families from the earlier shift who offered to help."
"That's not confirmed."
"Then let me confirm it."
"Nate, some of us have actual jobs in the morning."
He pushed back his chair. It scraped across the tile, and the librarian at the circulation desk looked up.
"I had an actual job," he said. "I made a hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year running logistics across eight states. I left it to raise my daughter. That was work I chose, not something I failed into."
No one spoke for a beat.
Then Meredith said, "I didn't know what you made."
"You never asked."
"I didn't ask you to announce your salary either."
He could feel himself teetering into another argument where he would remember only the insult and forget the people watching.
"You're right," he said, surprising both of them. "The number doesn't prove I can run a reading night. My work here should do that."
Mr. Flores nodded once.
Ms. Bell cleared her throat. "The two volunteer offers are in my inbox. I'll send them the schedule tonight."
As people gathered their folders, Meredith approached him. "I do believe you gave up a lot."
"I didn't say that so you'd believe me."
"Then why say it?"
He looked at the notebook in his hands. "Because I wanted you to feel as small as you've made me feel."
She had no answer. Neither did he.
In the parking lot, he called Leah before picking up Josie. "I said the salary out loud."
"How'd that go?"
"Nobody burst into applause."
"Were you hoping they would?"
"A little."
Leah laughed, a tired, sympathetic sound. "Come home. Josie has something she wants to show you."
He drove home without checking the committee messages. On the kitchen table was a new drawing of their family. Leah held blueprints. Josie held a library book. Nate stood between them, holding a stopwatch.
"Why the stopwatch?" he asked.
May you like
"You're always checking how much time is left," Josie said. "Are you in a hurry to go somewhere else?"
