“I can ask.”
“Then ask.”
He picked up his phone.
That was the moment everything changed.
Because this time, Ben wasn’t handing me a finished plan.
He was making the next decision with me.
When we got back to the hotel, I listened as he called Oregon.
“I need to move the start date.”
A pause.
“My daughter needs to finish the school year.”
Another pause.
“And my wife has a business she can’t abandon on six weeks’ notice.”
I stopped walking.
My business.
My schedule.
My life.
They were finally part of his sentence.
When he hung up, I asked,
“Well?”
“They need to discuss it.”
“And if they say no?”
He looked at me.
“Then I’ll decide whether the job is worth taking under circumstances that don’t work for my family.”
I smiled faintly.
“That’s different.”
“Yeah.”
A week later, they approved the delay.
Ben came home smiling.
“They’ll wait until summer.”
I nodded.
“I haven’t said yes yet.”
“I know.”
“But it’s easier to consider now.”
“Why?”
“Because now we’re considering it.”
Three weeks later, I finished two major events and rebuilt my business plan.
Then, one Saturday morning, I found Ben sitting at the kitchen table with Olive.
