“You like it.”
“I like that people seem to walk places.”
“That’s progress.”
“You like it.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
***
That evening, we had dinner with a few people Ben would work with.
Halfway through the meal, someone smiled at him.
“Your wife must’ve been thrilled when you negotiated Fridays.”
I turned.
“Fridays?”
Ben’s expression changed.
“Don’t ruin it.”
Outside the restaurant, I stopped him.
“What did you negotiate?”
“One Friday off every month, for me and Olive.”
“Why didn’t that make it into the paperwork you gave me?”
He exhaled.
“Because I was doing what I always do, Chels. Figuring it out alone. I was also trying to be home.”
“What did you negotiate?”
“Why Fridays?”
He hesitated.
“Olive said I always work on fun days.”
I looked at him.
“You remembered that.”
“Of course.”
“Then start telling me the things you remember before you build a solution around them.”
“You remembered that.”
***
The next morning, I went out alone.
I toured a shared workspace and asked about vendors, seasonal business, and remote planning.
A client called about a delivery problem, and I handled it from the sidewalk.
Moving would be difficult. It wouldn’t erase my career.
***
That night, I put my notes in front of Ben.
“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it together. We don’t move until Olive finishes the school year. I finish every event I’ve booked. We budget for rebuilding my business, and I decide how that transition happens.”
The next morning, I went out alone.
“Agreed.”
“Your schedule stays what you negotiated.”
“Yes.”
“And if the hospital starts eating our family alive again, you don’t decide how to fix it alone.”
He met my eyes.
“I bring it to you first.”
“Exactly.”
“You don’t decide how to fix it alone.”
Then he said, “The start date can still move.”
I paused.
“You can delay it?”
“I can ask.”
“Then ask, Ben, please.”
For the first time since Oregon entered our marriage, Ben wasn’t presenting me with a finished plan.
“You can delay it?”
He was waiting for my part in it.
***
When we got home, I listened from the kitchen while Ben called Oregon and admitted he’d committed too quickly.
