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Laura turns slightly and mouths, Take it.

I almost smile. “I’ll sell it to you.”

“Good. Can I come by tomorrow evening?”

Laura says, “Tell her I’ll be home after work.”

“Laura will be home after work.”

“Six?”

I repeat the time. Laura nods.

“Yes.”

When the call ends, I slip the phone back into my pocket. “That’s a lot.”

“It’s a very good first sale.”

“You told me to take it.”

“I did.”

I think about that. “You would’ve paid less.”

Laura laughs. “Absolutely.”

“How much less?”

“Enough that the number would hurt your feelings.”

“I don’t think it would.”

“It would hurt mine if our places were reversed.” She goes back to the tomatoes, but I stay where I am because another thought has already replaced the price in my head.

“When Meredith pays me, I can pay you back.”

Laura stops again. “For what?”

“The supplies.”

My hands are still slightly tacky from paint despite having washed them, and I rub one thumb across the other palm.

“I want to pay for the supplies,” I say. “And the clothes.”

Laura’s fingers tighten once around the knife handle before she sets it down completely.

“Kell, you don’t have to pay me back for everything.”

“I know.”

“Then why?”

“Because you bought those things when I couldn’t. Now I can.” I pause, because the cost of things still confuses me. “It’s enough, right?”

She nods.

“And I want the next things I choose to be things I pay for myself.”