"What did you do?"
"Anca."
"What did you do," I said, and my voice came out flat and strange.
She breathed out through her nose. "I moved some money," she said. "From the savings. Into checking. So I can pay Callie's first installment on Friday. It's six hundred and forty for the first half, and I'm moving the whole twelve-eighty now, because the second half is due April tenth and I am not going to have it on April tenth either, so I'm doing it all at once and I'm going to pay you back. I'm going to pay you back when the refund comes in. All of it. With interest, if you want. I'll write it down."
"The refund is sixteen weeks."
"Sixteen weeks is the outside," she said. "It could be less."
"Camp is due May first."
"I know."
"Sixteen weeks is July."
"I know when sixteen weeks is, honey." She rubbed her forehead. "I've been over it. I've been over it every way. I called your father. He's not, it's not going to happen there. I called the credit union about a loan and they want me to put the car up and I can't put the car up, I need the car to get to work. I called Coach Tamika to ask about a payment plan and there isn't one for Nationals, the airline won't do it, they have to book the block. I sat here for two hours. This was the last thing. I want you to know it was the last thing."
The timer said nine minutes. Upstairs, Callie's music changed to a different song with the same drum loop.