“Here I thought you liked your job,” I said, feeling a hint of petulance.
“Stop it,” she said. “You know I love my job. This isn’t just about me, either. You would get time off, too.”
“Time to do what?” I asked her.
“Excellent point,” she said. “What would you do with a free afternoon?”
I had absolutely no response to that.
“E.G., you’re a freaking billionaire. You’re supposed to say things like you would jet off to one of your properties.”
“Feels like a lot of effort.”
“Go buy a ridiculously expensive car.”
I had all the cars I needed and most of them I didn’t drive.
“Don’t you have any hobbies outside of work?” she pushed.
“I…uh…I do. Of course, I do.”
“You know you helped me to make friends with Claire. Do you want me to help you get a buddy, too?”
I glowered at her. “Can we change the subject?”
“Or go back to the original topic. Are we getting out early for Thanksgiving?”
“No.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Scrooge.”
“That was Christmas,” I pointed out.
“Whatever.”
It wasn’t my business what she was doing for Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t help think about it. She had no family.
She had me.
That was her world right now. Unless it wasn’t. Unless there was some other universe she’d created for herself in the past few weeks when I’d forced myself to look away.
“Out of curiosity, what are you doing tomorrow?”
There, I said it. I asked the question I wasn’t supposed to ask, but I had to know the answer.
“Oh. I volunteered to work at the homeless shelter. They’re doing a Thanksgiving dinner buffet.”
“The shelter. The place where you stayed?”
She nodded. “Figured I could actually give back something this year. My own way of saying thank you.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
Probably it was something I should have done. Found a way to give back. Of course, I donated to charities. I had an entire organization dedicated to giving away my money, but it wasn’t the same thing as showing up.
My petulance had now been replaced with guilt.
“You could come with me if you want,” she said, and I could tell she was trying to read my mood.
