Pulling out onto the road, a call rings through the car. I press the button on the steering wheel to answer.
“Hello?” I ask.
“Hey, you!” Macie’s voice sings. “How are you?”
“Good. Just grabbed dinner and heading home.”
“Smitten Kitten?”
“Yeah,” I laugh.
Macie scoffs through the line. “Seriously, Danielle. Expand your horizons a little bit.”
“I like it,” I pout. “It fits into my routine. I know Pepper. I like her food.”
“You’re comfortable there,” Danielle cuts in.
“That too.”
“Well, I have something to break you out of your comfort zone.” The tone of her voice pu
lls at a knot in my stomach. “My friend, Jules, is starting a nonprofit here in Boston. I told her about you and your experience with management and kids and scheduling and stuff.”
Piloting my car into my driveway, I pull into the garage and cut the engine. “How is she?” I think back to the stories Macie has relayed about Julia Gentry and her family. It’s crazy what they’ve been through, yet she seems to march on. I wish I had half her strength.
“She’s good. She’s always good. Strongest woman ever. I told her you might be interested in working for her.”
“Maybe. We have a budget hearing coming up, so that might work out great,” I wince. “I think we’re going to lose some funding and no one is safe when that happens.”
“I’ll let her know I asked.”
“So,” I say, moving the conversation along, “I had something interesting happen to me today, and I need your advice.”
“Go on.”
Envisioning her getting comfy in her chair, waiting to spill her thoughts on my life, I laugh. The kitchen lights are bright as I drop my bag on the counter.
“Okay, so Lincoln came back in today.”
“See this face? Well, you can’t, obviously, but if you could, you’d see I’m so freaking green with envy! I’d never tell Will this because he’d go all alpha-crazy if I brought up a thing such as a Hall Pass, but Lincoln would be mine. I can’t help it. I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours looking at his pics online.”
The chair squeaks against the floor as I pull it out from the table and collapse into it. I picture her boyfriend, Will Gentry, a man I’ve met once before, being told that Macie wanted a Hall Pass. I laugh before I can stop myself.
“What?” Macie asks.
“I’m imagining Will’s face if he overheard this conversation.”
“I’d be bent over this chair. Come to think of it, maybe I should let him hear . . .”
“Anyway, so Lincoln was back today to paint with a boy named Rocky.”
If a pin dropped on the other side, I could’ve heard it.
“Macie? Are you there?”
“Yeah,” she draws out. “I’m trying to figure out why a man like him was painting with a kid today. On a day’s notice.”
“I questioned it too,” I sigh. “But it seriously . . . Macie, he was so fantastic with him. With all the kids, really.”