“How small exactly is this apartment of yours?”
“One bedroom.”The two words came out whispered and garbled, almost as if my voice refused to acknowledge our new reality.
“Excuse me, what?I think I heard you say one bedroom.”
I kept my eyes glued to the windshield.“That’s because you did.”
A punch landed on my arm and I swerved to the left.“What the hell!You nearly made me run off the road.”
“Bullshit.And don’t change the topic.”Keely waved her hands up and down.“You could have moved in with me.”
I let out a strangled laugh.
“Okay, fine,” she conceded.“Moving in would have been a tight squeeze.But I could have lent you the money to afford something better.Or even stay in the house.”
“Keely.I love you.And I love that you’re prepared to help me.But you’re already paying for my lawyer.My extremely expensive lawyer.If I borrowed any more money, I’d have to give you an organ as payment.”
My usually chatty and eloquent friend cleared her throat.“Yeah, so about that.”
“What about what?”
“The money for the lawyer.You don’t owe me anything.”
Glancing at Keely, I noticed how she suddenly avoided making eye contact.“Why the hell not?”
“Because I never paid Vance.”
“What?Why not?Didn’t they send you the invoice?I gave them your email.I’ll call first thing on Monday to sort it out.”
She studied her boots.“No need.You gave them the right email.And I did get an invoice.”
“So, what’s the problem, then?”
“It was for one dollar.”
Frowning, I shook my head.“There must have been an accounting mistake.”
“Nope.”She popped thepand took a deep breath in.“I called them to double-check because it was weird.They said that’s all we had to pay.”
How did this suddenly get so complicated?“I’ll talk to Vance.”
“Already did.He said that’s what he’s charging you.”
“But why would he do that?”
Keely’s laughter startled me, and I swerved a little to the right this time.
I glared out the windshield.“What is wrong with you?”
She continued laughing.When I pulled into the parking lot in front of my apartment building, she was wiping tears from her eyes.“You’re oblivious.”
“What do you mean?”
“He usually charges $700 an hour.There is only one reason why he would have refused to charge you his normal rate.”
“I know.You don’t need to rub it in.He feels sorry for me.”
And the worst thing was that I had to swallow my pride and accept his charity.
