His jaw didn't quite drop, but it was close. "That can't be right," Olivia said, leaning in to look. "It's right," Darius said. "And three people told me they're sending more by end of week once they move some things around." He looked at Olivia with the matter-of-fact directness of a man who has been Marcus' best friend for 19 years and is constitutionally incapable of pretending things are smaller than they are. Your house is secure.
The bank gets there 4 months. You've got a cushion. Olivia stared at the number. She opened her mouth, closed it, and Darius said in a slightly different tone, "I took the liberty of making a call this morning to someone I know at the Peach Tree Community Foundation. They're specifically interested in the kind of programming you're proposing for the community center.
I told him about your grant application." He wants to have a conversation next week. The silence that followed was the particular silence of a person whose world has just rearranged itself faster than they can track. Darius, Marcus said, "You could have mentioned that earlier. I wanted the fundraiser to be the fundraiser," Darius said with an equanimity that Marcus found genuinely impressive. "The foundation call is a separate thing.
I didn't want it to feel like," he searched for the word, like a package deal, like she had to take all of it or none of it. He looked at Olivia. "This is your work, your proposal. Marcus helped you shape it, but the vision is yours. The Peach Tree guy needs to hear from you, not from us.
Olivia looked at Darius for a long moment. You've known Marcus a long time, she said. 19 years, Darius said. He talks about people the way you just talked about my proposal. Like the work belongs to the person who did it.
Darius looked at Marcus with an expression that managed to convey both warmth and vindication simultaneously. Yeah, he said. He does. It's one of his better qualities. He pocketed his phone.
I'll send you the contact information tonight. He nodded at both of them and walked back toward the table. Olivia and Marcus stood at the fence. A breeze moved through the yard. Somewhere on the other side of the Henderson house, Mrs. Patterson was saying a prolonged and affectionate goodbye to someone that was showing no signs of ending.
"I need to ask you something," Olivia said. Okay, Derek, what you said to him? She paused. She deserved it. Why did you say it like that?