I'll be there, Marcus said. He walked out of the office down the elevator out through the lobby into the Monday morning. He stood on the sidewalk and took a long breath. Traffic moved. People walked past him.
Atlanta continued being Atlanta indifferent and ongoing. He pulled out his phone, texted Renee. I think I have a job. She called him before he could put the phone back in his pocket. Already, she said, "Meeting Tuesday. " But yeah, I think so, Marcus.
Her voice broke for just a second. A crack she covered fast. I'm so glad. Don't get emotional. I'm not emotional, she said clearly emotional.
Tell me everything. He told her a version of it on the walk back to his car. The building, the scope, the salary. Renee went quiet in a specific way when he named the figure. That's real money, she said.
I know, Marcus. That's I know, Renee. A pause. Is she doing it because of Clare? Because she feels like she owes you something?
Marcus had thought about this. Had turned it over in his mind the way he turned everything over. No, he said, "I don't think so. I think she's doing it because she saw something she recognized and she's pragmatic enough to act on it instead of talking herself out of it. " How do you know the difference? Because Marcus said, "If she were doing it out of obligation, she would have made it smaller.
She would have given me something token, a reference, a contact, a foot in the door. She didn't do that. She offered me something real. " Renee was quiet. You sound like you trust her, she said. I trust what I've seen so far, Marcus said.
That's as far as I go with anyone. Fair enough. He could hear her smiling through the phone. Tell Deshawn tonight. Tell him what?
That his dad might have a job. I'll wait until it's real. It sounds real. Things sound real until they're not. He said, "I've learned that. " And he had.
He genuinely had 11 weeks of things that sounded real. He wasn't going to let himself run too far ahead of what he actually had in front of him. He drove home, made lunch, picked Deshawn up from school at 3. His son climbed into the back seat and immediately began explaining something complex and urgent about the relative flying speeds of different terasaur species. And Marcus listened and asked questions and forgot for 45 minutes to be nervous about anything.