Page 10 (2/2)

A beep followed by a soft chi room I slam the laptop shut and David leaps forward to swipe it off the table Just in tih the doorway a few seconds later,an unfamiliar sports hat instead

“Sorry I’ toward her seat at the end of the table A staff person appears and sets out her salad

“Are you? I wasn’t watching” I pick up reens the staff laid out precisely at seven as I ordered

“The bottorate and the heel just came loose” She lifts up her foot and shows off her ruined sneaker “I should probably stop buying shoes at the drug store”

A muscle in my jaitches as I try earnestly to control my temper She has access toto work as a low-level rocery store chain It’s a starter job, she explained when she accepted the offer after graduation last year “That et out I wave uard

“Hey, by the way, the guy you had tailing ood job, but he lost irl had bled through her white pants so I gave her my jacket She forced her Yankees cap on me”

David coughs into his fist This is the first tiht up her tail I wasn’t sure she knew she had one

“If he couldn’t find you with the hat, he shouldn’t be charged with the i you” I set my fork down and wave for the plate to be taken away

“His girlfriend just had a baby so he needs the job You can’t be that heartless” We stare at each other over the long expanse until she sighs “Right You are that heartless Whatever Fire hi severance check fro on me to use”

I’rinding ether “You’re free to use the money however you wish It is your money, after all That said, when you have children, the support for them will come out of that fund”

“Are you freaking kiddingthe staff that arrived to serve the steak “You aren’t going to support your own children?”