Chapter 13
The Family Table Without a Translator
Lena left the room twice and returned only when both parents stopped using her name as evidence.
Without their daughter between them, Nora and Daniel reached an agreement they disliked equally. Daniel would grant temporary lane access. Nora would include restaurant workers in the cooperative benefits plan. Neither would guarantee the other's debt.
"We could have spoken like this years ago," Daniel said.
"We could have. We didn't."
The clean answer hurt them both and repaired nothing falsely.
After Daniel left, Lena switched on her camera.
"I got the fellowship," she said.
Toronto. Ten months. Departure in three weeks, the morning after the council vote.
Nora felt every selfish reason to ask her to wait. She swallowed them before they became maternal concern.
"You should go."
Lena watched for the hidden condition. When none came, her shoulders lowered.
Theo arrived with news that Mercer Urban's debt was secured not only by his partnership stake but by the pensions of twelve employees. Exposing Malcolm could cost innocent people.
Nora opened the cooperative budget. "Then we build a plan that hires them."
Theo touched her hand beneath the table.
The campaign gained a lane, a staff obligation, and a new deadline. It also lost the simplicity of having one villain.