“Which Xavi is that?” I asked gently. There was a kind of melancholy hanging around him, like there was a storm cloud only over his head.
“Fuck-up Xavi,” he muttered and shook his head. “You should get a drink, though.”
“I’m alright,” I said with a smile. “I don’t really drink. We should order some food.”
“On me, man,” Deon said, clapping my shoulder with his hand. “You need to save every cent for that sister of yours. No argument.”
I wanted to argue – he’d paid last time we met up, too – but the truth was, I did need every cent. Even with this promotion, we still weren’t out of the woods yet. Especially if I had nowhere to live and couldn’t accept it.
But I was keeping all of this inside my head when I was sitting next to a friend who would want to help me, and that was no way to deal with a problem.
“Thanks,” I said, giving him a sideways look. “It might be the last time, so I won’t deprive you of the chance to buy me dinner.”
Deon nodded sadly. “I’m sorry you’re leaving,” he said. “I’ll miss our drinks from time to time.”
“Well, he might not be leaving,” Xavi said suddenly, sitting up.
“What?” Deon asked, and I glanced at Xavi, biting my lip. I hadn’t been sure how I was going to broach the subject, but apparently, he had done it for me.
“Can I get you any food or drinks?” a waiter asked, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere just at the opportune moment. I looked up at him and grinned in recognition.
“Jesse!” I exclaimed. “You didn’t get fired.”
“No,” he said, with a pleased smile and a slight flush on his cheeks. “No, thankfully they saw the surveillance footage and it was actually someone else who let her back in. Although I have been scrubbing the hallway ever since.”
“You two know each other?” Deon asked, glancing at me and then at Jesse. I was sure I caught an appreciative once-over from him. Apparently, Jesse noticed it, too, because he flushed even harder.
“Just from the wedding,” Xavi said.
“It’s a funny story,” I added. “I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
“Better be soon,” Deon muttered, but if he had anything else to say, I cheerfully blocked it out by placing my order.
If I had any hope that the conversation would turn to a subject other than me and my troubles, it was dashed when Deon turned right back to me as soon as Jesse was gone. “You’re not going?” he asked, giving me a pointed why-didn’t-you-tell-me look.
“Maybe,” I said, and groaned, rubbing my forehead. “Probably not. I’ll still have to go if I can’t figure this out. I’ve got until the end of the month to find a new place to stay at the same price or cheaper, and it’s impossible in this town.”
Deon tilted his head to the side sympathetically. “Yeah. This is becoming like a mini Hollywood with all the filming popping up all over the place. I even heard a rumor that some big movie star is thinking about getting a place on the cove. Or maybe he has already. People are saying different things.”
“That’s not going to help any,” I scowled. Looked like prices were only going to go up here. Maybe it was better for me and Daisy to get out before it got worse.
“But the promotion,” Xavi said. His voice almost came out as a whine. “You’ll be earning more. Won’t it stretch far enough?”
I shook my head silently. I didn’t want to go into the sheer amount of debt facing me. I didn’t say a thing.
Until a second later, when it hit me.
“How do you know how much they’re offering me?” I asked.
Xavi had been taking a sip of water, poured from a pitcher in the middle of the table, but he half-choked on it and looked at me. “What?”
“How did you know the salary?” I asked again. “No one knew how much Janice was earning. None of us. So, how do you know?”
“Umm,” Xavi said.
“No playing for time until you can think of a made-up answer that fits,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Tell me now.”
Xavi sighed. “Okay, fine,” he said. “She offered me the job first.”
