I poured myself a glass of wine and sighed, downing it all in one go.
‘Woah, easy there,’ my husband laughed, walking into the kitchen at just the right time to catch me.
Damn.
‘Long day?’ he asked.
‘The longest,’ I sighed. ‘Some of those parents are just so…’
‘Difficult? Obtuse? Aggressive?’
‘So stupid,’ I shook my head, pouring another glass. I waved the bottle at my husband, but he shook his head at me. I topped up my glass instead.
‘You know,’ he said, ‘you say this every year.’
‘It’s true every year!’
‘It didn’t used to drive you to that, though,’ he said, nodding at the near-empty bottle on the counter next to me.
‘Firstly,’ I defended myself, ‘that bottle was half-finished from dinner last week. And secondly…’
I frowned.
‘They’re really annoying?’ he prompted.
‘So annoying!’ I growled. ‘I had to basically fight with one of them to look into getting a paediatric optometrist appointment for their daughter.’
‘This is that Suzy kid?’ he asked, getting up and opening the fridge.
‘Yeah,’ I nodded. ‘The little blind girl who sits at the back of my classroom.’
He chuckled and came back to the counter with a block of cheese.
‘Maybe you need to move on then,’ he said, opening the drawer and fishing around for a cheese knife. ‘Into a different position at the school. One where you don’t have to deal with annoying parents that won’t look for a place to get an eye test near Bentleigh.’
‘Can we have this conversation later?’ I groaned. ‘Like, never, later?’
‘I’m just saying,’ he said, cutting into the cheese. ‘You’re not happy where you are, and you’ve been there a really long time. You should start pushing for what you’re worth.’
He handed me a slice of cheese on a plate, to accentuate his point.
‘It’s not as easy as that,’ I sighed, tiredly munching on the cheese.
‘Maybe not,’ he shrugged. ‘But even if the hardest thing you ever do – it might be worth it, don’t you think?’