The answer was yes

The repair contact asked for confirmation again the next morning.

They could hold the offered afternoon a little longer. After that, they would give it to someone else.

I was already at work. The request to leave early still had no answer, and the file still had the section I had marked before going home. I checked the work message once more before replying to the repair contact.

Nothing had changed.

I could have said I was waiting on approval. That was true, but it would only give them the same uncertainty I had given her before. They needed to know whether the afternoon was available.

I can't confirm that I can be there. Please give the time to someone else and send me the next available opening.

They thanked me for letting them know.

I went back to the file. The marked section had another sentence built around the old total. I changed it so both totals could stay without making the old one sound current, then read the paragraph from the beginning.

The work reply arrived before I finished the next paragraph.

I could leave early.

There was no explanation for why the answer had taken that long, and I had not asked for one. I read the approval twice anyway, as though the second reading might put it before the repair message.

I asked whether the afternoon was still available.

It was not. Someone else had taken it. The repair contact would send me the next opening when they had one.

The answer from work was yes. The answer from the repair contact was no. Neither one contradicted the other. They had arrived in the wrong order to be useful together.

I told work I no longer needed to leave early. Then I sent her the update I had promised.

Work approved it, but the repair time is gone. The sink won't be fixed today. I've asked for the next opening.

I did not add that the approval had arrived just after I released the time. She had asked me to tell her when I actually knew. The sequence did not change what I knew.

I put the phone down and finished the paragraph.

The file was still not complete when I left at the usual time, but the mark had moved. The early-leave request was closed. The promised update had been sent. Those were both true, and neither repaired the sink.

At the apartment, I emptied the bowl and put it back beneath the joint. The cupboard stayed open because I would need to reach it again.

The next available window had not arrived.