Oscar sighed heavily. “I know,” he said. “I’m just… mad at her for making it a condition of the donation and trapping us both into it, and I’m taking my anger out on you. Sorry. I don’t get why she even wants me there.”
“Maybe she likes you?” Ryan tried, calming down now that Oscar had stopped yelling at him. He got it. Oscar was only human, he was allowed to get upset about having control of his life taken away from him, even if it was only for the weekendandfor a good cause.
Oscar looked at him like it was incredible that he could stand and breathe at the same time. Like he was the biggest idiot he’d ever met.
“What?” Ryan asked. “You’re likeable.”
Oscar raised an eyebrow.
“Youare. I’m just… saying. If it’s that big a deal, I’ll go alone.”
“You said twenty thousand, right?” Oscar asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Right, yeah.” Ryan nodded. “I can show you,” he added, reaching for the check.
“I believe you,” Oscar said, making him pause mid-way. “I just…”
He sighed heavily, and Ryan could see that whatever he was thinking, it weighed heavy on him.
He could have kicked his own ass up and down the street. This was hisfault, he’d put Oscar in an impossible situation.
“We need the money, don’t we? Desperately, I mean.” Oscar looked down at his feet, shoulders slumping.
Ryan bit his lip. On the one hand, he could lie, say they’d be fine without it, that they could afford to piss off a big donor right now. Then Oscar could have backed out with a clear conscience.
But it’d be based on alie, and he didn’t know how the place ran well enough to know how to turn it around without the extra money, which meant that in a few months’ time it’d catch up to them. Then Oscar wouldreallyhate him.
Ryan was hoping to be gone by then, but that didn’t mean he wanted to leave the place in ruins.
Which meant his onlyrealoption was…
“Yeah, things are pretty desperate. I don’t think anyone but me really knowshowdesperate, but I don’t wanna lie to you. I already screwed up once tonight. We’ve got maybe three months of running costs left, and then I dunno where the money’s coming from.”
“Dammit,” Oscar said, turning away from Ryan to look out at the rest of the room, scanning the crowd.
He was silent for a few moments, and Ryan figured the best thing he could do right now was let him think. Give him time to process.
So much for making friends while he was here. He’d be lucky if he walked away from this without turning Oscar into a mortal enemy.
All because he was trying to help.
“There’s no one else here who’d be motivated to make that kind of donation,” Oscar said. “It’ll just be a weekend of cocktails and pretending to care about retirement funds, right? Nothing weird?”
It was phrased as a question, but Ryan was pretty sure Oscar was just trying to convince himself. In either case, he didn’t have an answer. He didn’t know the woman, and he wasn’t great at figuring out people’s motivations regardless.
He liked numbers. Numbers always behaved exactly like they were supposed to. People… didn’t.
“I don’t know, man. It’s not like this solves all the sanctuary’s problems, anyway. If you wanna back out… it’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
Oscar smiled wryly at him. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
Ryan shook his head. “No. You’re right. I shouldn’t have let her back me into a corner like that, and it’s not fair that you’re stuck with this now, too. If you don’t wanna go, your secret’s safe.”
“I can be uncomfortable for a weekend,” Oscar said decisively. “For the animals.”
“You sure? Because I reallywon’ttell anyone.”
“I’m sure.” Oscar sighed. “How bad can it be, really? I mean… I panicked, when you volunteered me into a weekend away with a house full of strangers. But what’s the worst that could happen?”
