Chapter 13 - The Children in the Middle
Meredith arrived at the playground carrying two paper cups and the weary look of a woman who had spent the afternoon arguing with a printer.
"I brought you coffee," she told Nate. "I don't know if you drink it black."
"I do. Thanks."
They sat on opposite ends of a bench while Josie and Maeve traded cautious glances from the climbing structure. Neither child came closer.
"Maeve told me what she said about you," Meredith began. "She shouldn't have repeated an argument between adults."
"She heard it somewhere."
"From me." Meredith curled her fingers around the cup. "I said you were treating the committee like one of your old warehouses. It wasn't kind."
"I told Josie I used to run a department bigger than the school. That wasn't kind either. It made her feel like caring for her was the job I got stuck with."
Meredith watched her daughter inch toward the ladder. "When Maeve was little, I worked full-time at a veterinary clinic. I cut back because the hours didn't fit school. People started calling me the PTA mom like it was my legal name."
"You could have told me."
"I didn't want your sympathy."
"Funny. I didn't want yours either."
For a moment they watched the children without talking.
"The year before you joined, a parent promised to coordinate the fundraiser," Meredith said. "He was wonderful at the meeting. Left me his card. Then he got offered a project and disappeared. I spent two days calling volunteers while Maeve had strep. So yes, I assumed you wouldn't follow through. I was wrong to assume it because you're a man."
"I also made an event about my ego," Nate said. "You were right about the batteries and the approvals."
Meredith rubbed the lid of her cup. "Are you still helping?"
"Not as the person who does everything. I'd like to see my kid read."
"Good. I'll handle the gym. Tessa said she'd cover check-in."
They stood, each a little unsure what the meeting had achieved.
"One more thing," Nate said. "Please stop calling it 'helping with childcare' when I talk about my days. It's my daughter. I'm raising her."
Meredith nodded. "I can do that."
The girls emerged from the climbing structure carrying a long stick between them, apparently at peace for the moment. Josie asked if Maeve could come over Saturday to build a cardboard city.
Nate looked at Meredith. She looked back.
"That can work," she said.
May you like
As they left, Nate got a call from his former boss, Martin, whose name had sat unanswered in his contacts for months. Martin wanted to know whether Nate was interested in a well-paid regional operations consulting assignment that would start Monday and run directly through reading night.
