“What about work?”
“I walked into a shitstorm this week,” I sighed.
“Tell me about it. I just told you about the shitstorm I weathered before I got here.”
“Wait, that meeting took place today?”
“It ended a few minutes ago.”
“No wonder you walked in so flustered.”
“Was I flustered?”
“If you had a petticoat to ruffle, it would’ve been in tatters on the floor.”
The two of us shared a laugh before I took a bite of my salad.
“So, what’s going on at the youth center?” he asked.
“Well, I walked into an air conditioning that didn’t work.”
“Yikes.”
“In the South. In the middle of summer. In Charleston.”
“Oh, that hurts.”
“Yeah. And then internet started acting up and that dips into a budget I didn’t plan for. Which means more money out of my pocket. And then there’s the issue of being short volunteers this summer for the youth center summer activities.”
“How many are you short?” he asked.
“Two or three volunteers, depending on where the head-count of children solidifies itself. Right now, it’s bouncing between forty and fifty kids for the summer.”
“How many do you usually need?”
“Five, usually. The legal ratio is one adult for every eleven kids, so fifty kids requires five adults on staff while they’re around. And then, there’s always the last-minute drop-ins with money and permission slips and I never have the heart to turn them away. Single mothers, single fathers, and single grandparents still work, after all.”
“Understandable. Now, what’s this thing you mentioned with pulling money out of your pocket?”
“Oh, it was just a statement. I’ll have to take a look at where our budget really is before I know if I’ll have to dip into my own account to fix the air and fight with the internet company. I haven’t called the internet company yet, so I don’t know if that’ll take money to fix. But the air conditioning? I think it’s beyond my expertise.”
“You fix air conditioning systems?”
“I’ve tried to fix almost everything in the building. YouTube videos are great for that kind of thing. I know how to fix most basic problems, but once I get into having to take out and switch out major parts, it gets beyond me. I can clean them down, exchange smaller things, take it apart and diagnose. Things like that.”
“Wow. That’s impressive, Andrea.”
“It really isn’t. I’ve got the spare time usually, so why not save the money?” I asked.
“Makes sense. What do you think is wrong with the air?”
“It’s not blowing,” I said coyly.
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“Hey, you asked.”
The two of us grinned at one another before we went back to eating. It fell silent between us for a little while, but the silence was comfortable. Everett praised my dinner with his hums, though I knew it wasn’t as good as anything he ate on a regular basis. With being a billionaire, his portable snacks were probably more gourmet than this entire spread for dinner. But, it didn’t matter. He went back for seconds before he started easing back into his seat with a full stomach. So, I considered that a mission accomplished.