I get the rest of the payment Friday.”

I looked down at the cashier’s check lying beside my spoon.

The routing numbers matched the local bank branch just down the street.

“I can get the property title cleared before September fourteen,” he said.

That date was exactly three weeks off.

It was the very day of my promotion ceremony.

“I screwed up, Sarah, but I’m fixing it,” he said.

“I want to be standing beside you when you get that star.”