Page 11 of Knot the Plan
He picks the wrench back up and doesn't turn around. Conversation over. The radio murmurs. The flag outside snaps once in the wind.
I should let it go. A graceful woman would let it go.
“A month,” I say to his shoulder blades. “The reunion's on a Saturday, end of the month. I'll have the other two by the end of the week, and the offer stays open till then. And Finn?”
He doesn't turn around. But the wrench stops moving.
“I didn't pick you for the favor. The favor's just how I'm paying for you. I picked you because when the fire truck goes past my window, twelve kids lose their minds, and you wave back every single time, and you think nobody sees you do it.”
I walk out through the bay doors into the afternoon. I make it almost the whole block before I let myself look back. The station sits there in the sun, doors open, flag snapping. Faintly, from inside, metal on metal. A pause. Then again, harder than the truck deserves.
He let me finish. That's the part I keep turning over. The man hangs up on telemarketers mid-word, and he let me say the whole insane thing start to end before he said no.
That's not nothing. I don't know what it is, but it's not nothing.
I'm still standing there turning it over when my phone buzzes, and this time it doesn't stop.
It's the family group chat. The family group chat is named “Porter Party Planning ” and has more members than I have relatives I can name, and exactly one administrator, and the administrator has made an announcement.
Mom: WONDERFUL NEWS EVERYONE!! Josie is bringing her PACK to the reunion!!!
Mom: Three alphas!!
Mom: She's kept them a secret because she wanted to be SURE, which I think shows real maturity!!
I stop walking. A man watering his lawn says afternoon and I say it back on autopilot, staring at my phone while it buzzes itself to death in my hand.
Aunt Deb: A PACK!!! Our Josie!!!
Aunt Deb: I'm at the dentist and I'm crying. The hygienist is concerned.
Uncle Ray: Do they hunt
Aunt Deb: RAY.
Uncle Ray: It's a normal question
I put the phone in my pocket, where it keeps buzzing.
Back at the school, Lily takes one look at my face and pours the last of the morning's coffee into my cup without a word.
“He said no,” I tell her.
“To the favor?”
“To all of it. Went back under the truck.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Then again. Lily's eyes drop to it.
“Group chat?” Lily says.
“The whole family's in it. Uncle Ray wants to know if they hunt.”
“Then we work fast.” She hands me my bag for the second time today. “Hudson tomorrow morning, Logan tomorrow afternoon. And Finn comes around.”
“Finn is not coming around. Finn went back under a truck.”
“He let you finish, didn't he? The whole pitch? Josie, the man ends conversations for a living. That's a yes with a wind-up.” She points me at the door. “But fine. We plan around him. Go home. Sleep. Tomorrow you recruit a golden retriever.”
