This Is My Timing

Because I offered double their weekend rate, they found availability.

My second call was to a premium caterer I’d researched months ago for a corporate event. I got the owner, Chef Maria, on the line.

“Maria, this is a desperate situation,” I said, leaning on the counter. “I need full catering for twenty by six tonight. Heavy appetizers, a prime-rib carving station, sides, and a custom cake that says Happy 40th, Jason. I’ll pay your rush fee in full, upfront.”

The total came to two thousand dollars. I authorized the transfer without a flinch. It stung to drain my safety net, but the return was going to be worth every cent.

Finally I made the most important call of the day.

I dialed the direct line of Vanessa Sterling, a family-law attorney I’d secretly consulted six months earlier, when Jason’s verbal abuse first started turning physical.