Page 6 of The Single Dad's Guide to Recreation

“Essentially, you’re serving less than twenty percent of the citizens in Climax. Don’t you want to expand that?”

She flicks a hand at the higher end of the income scale on one graph. “The eastside people have their golf clubs?—”

I counter with a tap at the other end, the so-called wrong side of the tracks. “It’s not just the high end of the earning spectrum. It’s the low end too. You’d like to build diversity, right?”

She straightens, chin jutting out, arms crossing again. “We always have.”

“But you can do better?”

Her attention goes back to the reports, and she picks up the programming proposal to flip through it. “So you’re talking about adding programs? Where am I going to get the budget for that?”

“Trede has allocated resources to support any changes for a year—including building upgrades—but in order for the city to commit to adding line items to its permanent budget, we have a mandate from the mayor’s office. All programming must be at eighty percent capacity by the end of the next fiscal year. Which means we should do our best to make changes to the schedule by September.”

She fumbles her pen. “But that’s just a couple months away. What happens if we don’t?”

“In order to make the changes permanent, you’ll have to consider cuts.” I tap the graphs with enrollment data. “And the mayor agrees that the Climax population could be better served.”

Tapping a line on the proposal, she makes a noise in the back of her throat. “Avery’s toddler class is on this list. We can’t lose Playgroup.”

“Well, uh…” Just the mention of the name Avery has me skipping off to hearts-and-rainbows land, and I fumble as I search for the chart illustrating childcare statistics in the area. “Right. So, as you can see, the county is in dire need of more daycare, while the parent-toddler program enrollment has been falling for years.”

“But it’s magical,” she says, her voice infused with a different emotion than she’s used before. Something I can’t quite identify, but it probably has to do with the bewitching Avery. “And it’s a community builder. Kids from Playgroup participate in sports when they get older. Their parents take classes.”

Not just because participation would mean spending time with the program’s teacher, I say, “It sounds like something I’d love, honestly.”

Leia’s smirk is dismissive. “You’re a little old.”

“I’m not kidding,” I say quickly, hand to heart. “I mean with my son. He’s just about to turn two. And we don’t know many other families in town yet.”

“Well, there is room in the class…”

I have to bite my tongue to avoid pointing out the reason: enrollment is low.

“Hmm. You should try it.” She raises her chin as she considers me. “You might find out that you don’t want to cut it.”

“How about this?” I say on a clap, like we’ve just agreed on everything. “I commit to taking the class and you’ll take a serious look at other ways to utilize the space and staff so we can best serve that age group. The childrenandthe parents.”

Her sigh is heavy, but it’s less dismissive, moreYou’ve made your point. “Fine. As long as I don’t have to deal with Mr. Ransom.”

Time to close, Harmon.“I will be your primary contact. He does have an entire company to run, after all.”

“Maybe you could remind him of that, so he’ll stay away?”

With her brows raised and lips pursed, I’m pretty sure I’ve got my deal and her number. “I’m on it.”

Her eyes scan the reports. “Can I keep these?”

“Of course.” I pick up my bag and then add, “With your permission, I’d like to meet with other team leaders. Just to get their insights.”

She snorts as she picks up my proposal and crosses back to her desk. “Good luck with that. Especially with Carl Conrad. His bark is worse than his bite, but he does bite. Our office manager, Wanda, has tons of institutional knowledge but don’t bother her until you know exactly what you need, or she’ll give you nothing.”

She pauses, tapping her pen on the desk. “Daisy, who directs our art program, is kooky but she knows her stuff. Avery runs all children's activities, but she’ll be angry to hear that you’re thinking about cutting Playgroup. Her swear words may be cutesy, but she’s tougher than you’d think.” She pauses, and I wonder how many more warnings she has to hand out about her staff. “My recommendation? Start with Travis.”

“Travis? The ex-football player?” Also known as the third point of an old love triangle between Leia and my boss?

She nods definitively. “He knows everyone in town. He’ll be a good resource.”

On my way out the door, I’m almost giddy at the prospect of seeing Avery again. But as I review the last few minutes of our conversation, I have to wonder if I just got played.

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