“I thought you were off skiing,” Sam said after they left.
“Change of plans,” I said.
He handed me a mug of spiced chai. “I get it.”
“Get what?”
“Putting aside what you want because of family.”
“It’s not like that.”
He lifted one fluid, beautiful brow, a trick I couldn’t pull off even when I practiced in a mirror. “Tell me you didn’t give up your trip to be with your sister.”
“Okay, yeah, I did. But only because I wanted to.”
“How does your boss feel about that?”
“She’s not my boss anymore.”
“She fired you? Fuck.”
“It’s all right,” I said, wanting to believe it. “It doesn’t affect my standing in the program at all. But... Well. Obviously, she was disappointed. This trip was supposed to be my Christmas present.”
“So she’ll get a refund.”
“I was rooming with the girls.”
“Then it wasn’t a present. It was a transaction. She was using you.”
“She was paying me. Helping me. I thought she liked me.”
“You’re a lousy judge of character, then.”
I opened my mouth. Shut it.
“The way I see it, she’s done you a favor,” Sam said. “Now you know what she is.”
“She was very professional.”
“I didn’t say she was evil, just ordinary. I see it in the shop all the time. Most people are just doing what they can to get by, to make their own lives easier.”
I thought back to the man in the cap, reading the paper without paying for it. The woman bargaining for a loaf of bread. Sam was right. Of course he was right. I had, as Maeve said, an incredibly limited view of the world. I saw things—people—Gray—the way I wanted them to be, overlooking clues that would be obvious to anyone else. But...
“You didn’t,” I pointed out. “Do the easy thing, I mean.”
Sam had given up his chance at college to provide for his family. I might be naive, but at least I wasn’t wrong about that.
He shifted, folding his arms. Apparently I could make him as uncomfortable as he made me. “Once upon a time, maybe. But don’t fool yourself, Boots. I can be as selfish as the next bastard.”
I grinned, suddenly more confident. “You can tell yourself that, if you want. But I don’t believe you.”
Toni and Fiadh returned from the back.
“Fee invited us for Christmas!” Toni said. “I told her yes. We can go, can’t we?”
Sam looked at me, the devil dancing in his deep-sea eyes. I’d already turned down his invitation to Christmas dinner.
But Toni was almost bouncing with excitement. I recognized the signs of an incipient crush.
