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I want to cheer her up and smile when I find what I am looking for on my phone. I immediately text her, hearing her phone buzz.
“There you go. Those are the therapist recommendations I got that can specifically help with panic attacks and stage fright. They specialize in helping with actors too.”
She finally looks up at me then and I see gratitude and excitement clearly in her eyes. She nods, “Thank you. This means a lot.”
Then she looks down and sighs, “Will you just take the rest of the money back and get this over with?”
I just rub my forehead and think. “So, you are still going on about that, huh?”
She nods, “Yes! That’s what I’ve been wanting to talk to you about, remember?”
I sigh, “So, you’ve spent part of the money?”
“Yes,” she nods. She reaches for her glass of water on a coaster on the coffee table and downs half of it in a single gulp.
“I paid my student loans, like you and Parker told me to. And the rest I’ve spent going back and forth from your parents’ house to my parents’ house, and a spa day for me and a friend. I couldn’t even tell mom and dad about the money.”
Elsa looks at me as if expecting a scolding, but I’m smiling broadly, more than pleased with what she did for herself.
“I didn’t give you this money to spend on boring things,” I say, reaching for her hand again, and this time, she doesn’t reject me. “Go crazy. Buy your favorite car. Do something that makes you happy!”
She looks at my hand on top of hers and places hers on top of mine.
“That’s easy to say when you have your life made,” she says, sounding disheartened.
“Oh, my life is not made,” I say. “I live every day thinking about what will happen if I lose it all.”
“You’rethatattached to your money?” Elsa asks, scoffing.
“I’m attached to what it can do to my family,” I say without batting a lash, “Both the one I have now and the one I will have in the future.”
She waves me off. “Your family is awesome. They deserve it.”
“Why don’t you buy something for your parents?” I suggest, eagerly attacking the rest of my noodles.
“And how do I explain the money?” she tilts her head back, considering.
“Ah, you’re just finding excuses.” Now I’m the one who waves her off.
“It’s not that, it’s just…” She buries her fingernails into her scalp. “Ugh, just take the money back!”
I support the weight of my head on my free hand, and look at Elsa dead serious, only to say, “No.”
She looks back at me, deeply offended, and I need to hold back the laughter that is threatening to overtake me.
“But—”
“No buts!” I raise a finger. “And if you keep on insisting, I will send you double!”
“Harvey!”
“Triple!”
Elsa wilts in place, and I lean back, victorious.
“Why did you have to chase me all the way back to my parents’ house a few weeks ago just to ask me this in person anyway? Couldn’t you have just reversed the transaction in your cash app?” I ask.
“Well…” she posts her index at her cheek and tries to think. “I… I…”
