She answered on the second ring because she'd been waiting to tell him about the fractions test, which she had gotten a 92 on and she wanted to be the one to say it before Dana mentioned it first. 92, she said. And the two I lost was because I wrote the answer in the wrong box, not because I got it wrong. So, it's basically a 94. Graders don't grade basically.
He said, it's still good. It's great, bug. I told you the second explanation would land the denominator part. She said, "Once you said it twice, it made sense. Like the second time you said it with the pizza thing.
The pizza thing always works, Dad." Her voice shifted the way it did when she was about to say something she'd been turning over for a while. Is your job okay? He looked at the wall of the side office. Project timeline. Permit approvals.
A coffee ring on the lower edge from a cup he'd set there 3 weeks ago and kept meaning to wipe off. Job's fine, he said. Why? You sounded different last week on the Thursday call. Like you were thinking while you were talking.
He'd thought he'd covered it better than that. 7-year-olds were unreliable in every possible way except the way that mattered. I was working through something. He said, I think I've mostly got it mostly. Mostly is good for a Thursday, he said.
By next Saturday, it'll be all the way with pancakes. She said chocolate chip. He said already planning it. She made the satisfied sound she'd been making since she was three when a plan had been confirmed to her satisfaction and handed the phone to Dana. And Marcus talked to his sister for 10 minutes about nothing that mattered.
And by the time he hung up the knot that had been sitting at the base of his sternum for the past week had loosened one turn, not all the way. One turn, he went back to the bid documents and worked until 9. 3 days later, Tuesday morning at 7:50, 20 minutes before their usual check in his phone rang. Diane, I need you to know something before this moves forward. She said something I should have told you before now.
He waited. Bitch's connection to this company isn't just the vendor play. She said he has a board level relationship. My ex-husband brought him in as an investor 2 years ago. After we separated, my ex still holds a board seat, a pause, which means when Hartwell's disclosure goes to the full board.
My ex will see it first and he'll tell Fitch before the meeting convenes. Marcus sat with that. So Fitch gets advanced notice, he said. Approximately 72 hours, maybe less depending on when the letter arrives. What does he do with 72 hours?
She was quiet for a moment and he understood she'd already mapped this. She'd had 3 days. He tries to reframe the Pacific Ridge documentation as manufactured. He tries to make it look like I built a case against a vendor using an employee who had personal grievances. Someone with a history of conflict around this contractor group who could be presented as unreliable or biased.