Chapter 15 - Before I Answered The Phone
At breakfast, nobody touched the pancakes.
Ethan looked from me to Nora.
“What?”
I had asked them both to sit.
That alone made him suspicious.
I said:
“Seattle wants to talk.”
He blinked.
“The basketball team?”
“Yes.”
“Like move?”
“Maybe.”
Nora drank coffee.
She had promised not to answer before him.
I continued.
“Nothing is decided.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
She said:
“Your dad is asking what we think.”
He frowned.
“I thought I wasn't supposed to decide.”
“You aren't,” I said.
“Then why ask?”
“Because your opinion matters without being the reason.”
He considered that.
“Can I hate moving and still say you should talk to them?”
I looked at Nora.
She looked at me.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then that.”
Simple.
Annoyingly mature.
“What do you hate about it?”
“Leaving school.”
“What might you like?”
He shrugged.
“Rain.”
“Seattle has plenty.”
“I know.”
“Anything else?”
“Nobody asking if I'm going to break your scoring record.”
I smiled.
“You won't.”
He stared.
I raised both hands.
“Joke.”
He looked at Nora.
“Mom?”
She set down her mug.
“I don't know whether I'd move.”
Ethan nodded.
Apparently uncertainty from adults had stopped frightening him quite so much.
I asked her:
“Would you stay married if I stayed here?”
She looked at me.
Ethan groaned.
“Can I leave?”
“Yes.”
He stood.
Then pointed at us.
“Do not decide stuff for me after I go.”
Nora said:
“We won't.”
He left for school.
The front door closed.
Nora stared into her coffee.
“You really asked that at breakfast.”
“I panicked.”
“Clearly.”
I leaned back.
“Would you?”
She looked toward the doorway Ethan had disappeared through.
“I don't know.”
I nodded.
Not because I liked it.
Because it was hers.
She continued:
“If you stay, I don't want to spend the next ten years hearing that you gave up Seattle for us.”
“I wouldn't.”
She looked at me.
I corrected myself.
“I don't want to.”
“Better.”
“If I go?”
“I don't want to hear that I forced you out because our marriage got hard.”
“Okay.”
“Caleb.”
“What?”
“Pick the basketball part because of basketball.”
I stared.
“And the family part?”
“We figure that out whether you're here or there.”
That was harder than a grand sacrifice.
More honest too.
My phone buzzed.
Dana.
9:02.
Nora glanced at it.
“You going to answer?”
“Yes.”
I picked up.
Then stopped.
Old habit.
Look for approval.
She noticed.
Did not give it.
Good.
I answered.
“Morning.”
Dana said:
“Seattle's general manager is ready when you are.”
I looked toward the kitchen counter.
The envelope from Monday still sat beside the fruit bowl.
Open now.
Ordinary paper.
The thing that had seemed powerful was empty of power once everyone said their own words.
Nora stood and put her cup in the sink.
She didn't hover.
Didn't leave either.
Dana asked:
“Caleb?”
“I’m here.”
“Do you want the call?”
I looked through the window.
Ethan had forgotten his lunch on the porch again.
Nora saw it at the same time.
She grabbed the bag.
I opened the front door.
Ethan was halfway down the sidewalk.
“Lunch!”
He turned.
Nora tossed it.
He caught it badly against his chest.
Then looked toward me.
“Seattle?”
I held up the phone.
He nodded once.
Not yes.
Not no.
Just: your turn.
He ran toward the waiting school car.
I put the phone back to my ear.
“Dana.”
“Yeah?”
“I'll hear them.”
Nora stopped beside me.
I continued before Dana could respond.
“Hearing them is not a trade request.”
“Understood.”
“And whatever happens, Marcus doesn't speak for me.”
“Understood.”
I looked at Nora.
She held my gaze.
Dana said:
“They're ready.”
I walked back inside.
Nora followed.
The door closed behind us.
I sat at the kitchen table where three nights earlier my wife had told me she might not want to stay married.
She sat across from me.
Not beside me.
Not leaving.
Dana connected the call.
A new voice came through.
“Caleb, thanks for taking the time.”
I glanced once at Nora.
She didn't nod.
She didn't shake her head.
I stopped waiting for either.
May you like
“I'm listening.”
And this time, before anyone else could tell me what my family wanted, I intended to hear the question first.
