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“It would really lessen your stress if you start to see this as your home as well. You don’t need permission to have a pet. And your visitors don’t need to hop fences and sneak off into the night.”
“I… thank you,” I said, again feeling those damn tears sting at my eyes.
I had to be hormonal or something. That was the only explanation for it.
“So which car do you want?” he asked.
I knew he preferred the Rolls. And I would never trust myself to drive something that expensive anyway.
“What about the SUV?” I asked, somehow knowing it was useless to insist on taking the bus. Since he was likely where I’d inherited my stubbornness from in the first place.
“Perfect. I’ve only driven that twice. It could use some more use,” he said. “The keys are in the kitchen in the drawer next to the door,” he told me. “I will have you on my insurance plan within an hour or so.”
“I really app—“
“Don’t,” he cut me off. “Okay. What else while we are here?” he said, tapping his chin with his pen. “Oh, your medical expenses. When they show up, bring them to me.”
“I, ah, I have insurance,” I told him.
“The bar provides insurance?”
“The owner is a good woman,” I said, shrugging. “And the other bartender has a chronic… leg condition, so he sees a lot of doctors and goes to therapy. He’s an old friend of hers. And she said I was insured immediately to cut down on her costs.”
“Okay. But your deductible or anything that your insurance doesn’t cover, send that to me.”
“I… okay,” I conceded.
“What else…” he said, jotting down some notes. “Right. Put me in your phone as an emergency contact.”
“I can do that,” I agreed. I was already in his phone as his.
“I guess it is asking too much that you take a few days off of work?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. Well, then I am not giving you any tasks for a few days.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“And, yet, it is happening. So,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Who is the man with the pig?”
“It’s a… friend,” I said, though that lie didn’t land as well as it could have.
“The same friend who threatened to maim Frederick?” he asked, smirking a bit.
“I mean… maybe.”
“I feel like I should have some words of advice about dating people who are good for you, but who the hell am I to give advice on such things?” he said, shaking his head, looking a little lost in thought and sad. For a man who was typically so stoic, it was hard to see him go low.
Though, objectively, it was a miracle he didn’t have more lows, given the situation.
“If it makes you feel better, bad choices in mates comes from both my parents,” I said, shaking my head.
“It doesn’t,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But at this point in my life, my best advice is: if it brings you joy, go after it. Everything else,” he said, waving outward, then flicking his wrist as if to say it didn’t mean anything.
“That’s good advice to give, but it’s hard to follow.”
“Maybe. But it’s a goal worth working toward. Now go and wash that pancake makeup off your face. It isn’t fooling anyone and it looks like it is about to melt off,” he said, giving me a smirk. “By the time you’re done with that, the insurance will be settled, and you can take out the SUV.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Really,” I added before walking away, still holding the envelope full of cash.
It would make a difference, having that to put in my account. No more worrying about food or gas money. Or my phone being cut off.
I couldn’t shake the strange feeling of guilt, though, as I made my way back to the guest house and washed the makeup off my face.
I’d needed to work for absolutely everything in my life. It was uncomfortable to accept help. Even from my own father. Maybe especially from my father, given, well, everything.
But he wanted to help.
And he wasn’t quite as stuffy as I’d been thinking if he was okay with Rosita and Dezi literally trespassing on his property.
“You want to go take a walk, my girl?” I asked Rosita after reapplying my eye makeup in the hopes that it might distract from the bruises.
I strapped her into her harness and then walked her up the driveway to grab the keys for the SUV, feeling oddly like a rebellious teenager stealing their parents’ car, even though I clearly had permission to drive it.
“You’re going to love the park,” I told Rosita, glancing back at her in the rearview as I waited on the light that would lead the way there. “And on the way home, we are going to stop and get you some more fresh veggies,” I told her.
