Now she turned. Because of your signature. Because your name wasn't in the log. She looked at him with an expression he couldn't quite categorize. I want you to understand what that means.
Because I don't think you fully appreciate it. He waited. In 30 years of business, she said, I have had lawyers, executives, consultants, and board members tell me what they thought I wanted to hear. I have had people worth 10 times what you are worth tell me yes when they should have told me no. I have paid people enormous amounts of money and they still managed to disappoint me.
She paused. And you with everything you had on the line, you put the key on the table and walked out. I was raised a certain way, he said. So was I. She said it didn't stick the same way.
She went to find Rachel. Malcolm sat back down at his desk. He picked up his cold coffee and looked at it. Put it back down. His phone buzzed.
A text from Maya. Did she pay you? He typed back, "Working on it." Three dots appeared. Then that means no. He almost smiled.
He typed that means almost. the dots again. Then, "Dad, I told Mrs. Patterson you'd come to career day." He looked at the ceiling. When he typed, "Two weeks, she wants a real job, not a school job. Aviation maintenance is a real job." I told her that.
She said, "Bring documentation." He did smile this time. Just briefly, "I'll bring the binder," he typed. "Don't bring the binder. It's 400 pages, 312, Dad." He put the phone down. The smile faded.
He looked at the shop at what remained of it at the empty spaces at the workbenches where his team had spent weeks building something worth building. He thought about Jerome, 22 years old, who'd worked two overnight shifts and never once complained, who'd asked Malcolm intelligent questions about tolerances and material fatigue that most mechanics twice his age wouldn't know to ask. I thought about what it would mean if the invoice wire cleared today, about the suppliers he could pay, about the equipment he might be able to get back, about the lease that had 18 days left on its grace period. He thought about what it would mean if it didn't clear. Then Rachel appeared in the doorway.
"It's done," she said. "Authorization went through. Should hit the account within the hour." Malcolm exhaled. "Not dramatically. just exhaled like a pressure valve, slow and controlled because that was who he was. Okay, he said.
2864, Rachel said. Plus the advances plus late interest, she added something extra, a discretionary amount. Rachel looked at her phone. She said, "And I'm reading directly for the inconvenience of having to deal with me." Malcolm raised an eyebrow. Her words, Rachel said.