“Why do you know about insurance?”
“You complain about it.”
“Fair.”
She looked down.
“Mom would’ve been mad.”
“At me?”
“At your boss.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Yes.”
“She would’ve yelled.”
“She would’ve used complete sentences.”
“That’s worse.”
He smiled.
They drove home.
The next morning, Ethan woke at 5:36 without an alarm.
For ten years his body had known the schedule.
He lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
No work.
The phrase sounded temporary.
Dangerous.
He made breakfast.
Maddie ate pancakes.
He did not object.
At 8:03, his phone began ringing.
Unknown number.
He ignored it.
Again.
Ignored.
Then Mike.
“Morning.”
“You watching the news?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t news.”
“That is usually why I don’t watch it.”
“I mean inside.”
“What happened?”
Mike lowered his voice.
“Vanessa called an emergency leadership meeting.”
“Okay.”
“Pierce didn’t show.”
That surprised him.
“Why?”
“No clue.”
“Maybe he had enough sense.”
“Also HR wants written statements from everybody who witnessed yesterday.”
Ethan sat down.
“About what?”
“The challenge.”
“Interesting.”
“And Charles Wynn told Janice not to speculate.”
“That’s reasonable.”
Mike paused.
“Vanessa also told people you misunderstood the exercise.”
Ethan smiled without humor.
“There it is.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“That she told you four minutes or quit?”
“Yes.”
“That the aircraft was held until the meeting?”
“If you know that firsthand.”
“Charles told three of us.”
“Then say that.”
“That Pierce was there?”
“Yes.”
“That she already promised him your job?”
“No.”
Mike went quiet.
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t hear that from Vanessa.”
“The email—”
“Separate issue.”
“Ethan, she set you up.”
“I know.”
“So fight.”
“I am.”
“You’re sitting at home.”
“That’s not the same as surrender.”
Mike sighed.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet.”
At 9:17, a voicemail arrived from HR.
At 9:24, another from Vanessa.
He listened to neither until after lunch.
HR’s message was neutral.
They requested an exit interview and wanted clarification regarding his resignation.
Vanessa’s was shorter.
“Ethan, call me. We need to discuss yesterday before this becomes something neither of us intended.”
He listened twice.
Not an apology.
Not an explanation.
Containment.
At 1:00, he called an employment attorney.
Not because he planned to sue.
Because he had spent twenty-six years telling younger mechanics never to troubleshoot complicated systems by guessing.