CHAPTER SIX — WHAT GREEN MEANT

The employee meeting at Hollis took place in a break room with bright fluorescent lights and a vending machine that hummed through every pause.
Mallory invited Jonah to wait in the parking lot because she expected to need a ride afterward.
He declined to attend the meeting itself.
At noon, she came out accompanied by a young warehouse employee named Rosa Calder.
Rosa held a printed shift schedule marked with yellow highlighter.
“They’re telling us the childcare arrangement was never guaranteed,” Mallory said.
“But they advertised it as part of the retention program.”
Rosa nodded.
“Three people already gave notice to their previous childcare providers.”
Jonah opened the passenger door for them.
“What did Priya say?”
“She gave us a list of what was physically installed.”


Rosa spread the document across her knees.
“Paint, cabinets, two sinks, and a door latch.”
“What isn’t there?”
“The ventilation commissioning, the furniture, the staffing agreement, and the scheduling service.”
Mallory laughed without humor.
“So basically, the part where it works.”
“She also said some sites are farther along than ours,” Rosa added.
“We shouldn’t assume they’re all identical.”
That distinction mattered.
It was the first sign Jonah had heard that someone was trying to establish facts rather than win an argument.
He drove Rosa to a bus stop before taking Mallory home.
At a red light, Mallory turned toward him.
“Belinda designed that green completion label, didn’t she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.”
“Even now?”
Jonah met her eyes.
“I can be angry at my wife without inventing things about her.”


Mallory looked away.
“I’m angry too.”
“I know.”
“But my boss says if the new schedules don’t work, that’s our problem.”
Jonah thought about the thousands of hours people spent arranging childcare, rides, and shifts before anyone considered them numbers on a contract.
He wanted to take charge of the entire situation.
He also knew he was not trained to oversee construction or employment agreements.
“Let Rosa and your representatives lead,” he said.
“Keep the dates and the notices.”
“I already have them.”
“Then you’re doing more than I could.”
At home that evening, Jonah found Belinda sitting on the front steps.
Her face was blotchy from crying.
She held a paper grocery bag containing three small boxes of vitamins and a loaf of bread.
“I didn’t know where else to go,” she said.
Jonah unlocked the door and let her inside.
He did not offer the bedroom.
He made tea in the kitchen while she sat at the table.
“Dorian has asked me to take a leave of absence,” she said.
“For your pregnancy?”
“For stress.”
“Was that your decision?”
“He says it will protect me while the site audit happens.”
“Will it?”
“I don’t know.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“He also asked me to sign a statement saying I personally inspected every green site.”
Jonah set her tea in front of her.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then don’t sign it.”
“He says the word inspected includes checking digital photos.”
“Does your job description define it that way?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then ask someone independent before answering him.”
Belinda looked at the blue folder in the hallway closet.
“He promised we’d move to Denver after the audits.”
“Had you agreed?”
“I told him I’d think about it.”
“Did he say where you’d live?”
“In an apartment owned by a company investor.”
Jonah leaned against the counter.
“What happens if you stop working for him?”
Belinda looked down.
“He said we’d discuss that later.”
It was the first time she appeared to understand how many of her plans depended on Dorian continuing to approve them.