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“And scotch, apparently”

I leaned against the counter once again, ht on the handle “The coffee is to stay awake The scotch, to sleep”

Like she understood, she gave a nod “I drink scotch to forget…even though it never works”

Nothing ever worked I’d tried it all “I’ve decided to put Claire back in school She starts after the weekend”

“Oh, good She’s excited to go back”

“Yeah” I questioned whether it was the righther forever She see her back from normal life was selfish on my part If she had any residual anxiety, it would probably is like finger painting and h she hated math

“How do you want to handle that?”

“I’hts now You’ll need to drop her off in theand pick her up afterward”

“That’s fine”

“And let the housekeeper in during the day so she can take care of the apartment”

“Well…I can clean”

“It’s fine”

“It could save you money—”

“I don’t need to save money”

She dropped her gaze to her coffee, blew the stea business?”

“It’s over”

“Maybe you should do jobs here and there, keep up the pretense”

The last thing I wanted to do ork two jobs

“I can help too You know, scheduling, ordering supplies, bookkeeping, whatever…”

I contemplated the idea with dread I was already a father and a Chasseur Now I had to take on sood man who did honest work But I didn’t see another alternative Hoould I explain ht” My hand slid intowith a debit card I set it on the counter beside her then backed away once more

She took it and examined the bills “What’s this?”

“For anything that you need”

She exa it to the counter “I still have soave me before”

“That won’t last forever”

“U re her face “I’ve lived on a dancer’s salary I definitely kno to budget” She left theit

“Just take it” I didn’t have the temperament to do this It re time since I’d been on a date, and I hated dates I hated talking I hated people I hated bullshit