“You know…I might see Beau again, actually,” I say carefully. He glances up at me with a curious notch in his brow.
“I hope I don’t accidentally let any of this slip…”
Oh, you are bold, Charlie.
My hands are shaking, and I can’t let him see me falter, so I quickly clutch them behind my back. I hold my head up high, shoulders back, and I look him right in the eye.
Without another word, he pulls out his checkbook again, and the look on his face says he is not happy at all, but I remind myself that I don’t care. I don’t care if he’s mad at me or hates me or that I’m making him angry.
Except I do. I do care, and I hate the disappointed scowl on his face as he scrawls out another check. But I need this money, and I’m in the position to get it.
Do it for Sophie, I remind myself.
“What number might help you remember to keep quiet?” he says with a grunt.
I quickly lick my lips. Fuck, I don’t know. So I’ll just go with the price of the Anime Fest with VIP passes. “Two-fifty.”
He glances up at me as if he’s surprised. Too much? Too little?
“Two hundred and fifty?”
I nod. He seems to contemplate that for a moment before going back to filling it out. Again, he rips it from the book and holds it out for me.
Quickly, I cross the room, and I notice the way he’s watching my body as I hurry toward him. Then he meets my eyes, but he doesn’t let go of the check right away. Instead, he looks like he wants to say something. I wait, hoping he’s not about to argue with me again.
Finally, he lets it go.
“Thank you.”
He nods his head, and I turn to run out of his office. I don’t stop until I reach my car. Dropping into the driver’s seat, I finally let out the heavy breath I was holding.
I glance down at the two checks in my hand. The first for one thousand, and the second for five thousand.
What the…
Is this a mistake? I keep re-reading the number written, wondering what exactly I’m missing. For a second, I actually consider running back into the house to tell him he made a huge mistake. Then I notice in the memo of the check, there is a phone number followed by three letters: SPC.
They aren’t his initials. But something about that note makes me think he wrote the amount out on purpose. So I don’t go back in. I mean, he’s loaded. Five thousand might be a mortgage paymentandtickets to Anime Fest for me, but for him, it’s probably nothing.
I let out a squeal of excitement and drop the checks into the passenger seat as I start my car and hurry home.
Was humiliating myself worth five grand? It sure fucking was.
RULE #4: AFTER A HUMILIATING DAY WITH YOUR EX’S DAD, TACOS AND MARGARITAS ARE ALWAYS THE ANSWER.
Charlie
Sophie is in heaven as the waitress places a serving of fried ice cream bigger than her head on the table. Meanwhile, my mom is next to me sucking down a margarita that’s even bigger than hers.
My sister offers me a spoon, and I take it with a smile. We dig in, barely breathing between bites of the sugary caramel vanilla concoction.
“Wow, Charlie. Thanks for taking us out to dinner,” my mother says with a tipsy smile. It’s nice to see her so relaxed. With the extra shifts she’s been picking up at the hospital, I know she’s been stressed.
“My pleasure,” I mumble around a mouthful of ice cream.
“Freeze brain!” Sophie shrieks, clutching her forehead. Mom and I laugh at her misspoken phrase, which she’s been using since she was a toddler, and we never had the heart to correct her. So we all call it afreeze brainnow.
When I came home with five thousand more than I expected to, I immediately told them to get dressed for a dinner out. It’s Taco Tuesday, after all.