Chapter 43 Chris
CHRIS
When i woke up, she was gone. She left me a note by the coffee maker telling me she didn’t want to wake me and she went to get her stuff.
I showered, placed a delivery order for the creamer she liked, and food for the fridge.
Put fresh towels in the guest bathroom and set the book I’d wanted her to read on her bed.
I was putting the groceries away when my phone rang. It was her.
“Hey—”
“Chris…”
I froze. She was crying.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I just lost my job.”
I blinked into the kitchen. “At Donna’s? For what?”
“She added a bunch of nuts to the menu,” she cried. “She forced me to quit.”
My jaw flexed as she told me everything Donna said.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m just sitting in my car. I have to go do deliveries—”
“No. Come home.”
“I can’t, Chris. I have to work.”
“Not today. Come home.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I need money. I have nowhere to live,” she said. “I can’t stay with you for—”
“You can stay here as long as you want. You can stay here forever. You don’t have to pay rent, don’t have to pay for anything.”
“I can’t do that—”
“You’re going to.”
“Why?”
“Because I want the convenient dog-sitting?”
I managed to get a laugh out of her.
I put the phone to my other ear. “Look, I know it’s hard for you to accept help—”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know you,” I said.
She went quiet on the other end.
“I want to help you,” I said. “I want you here. This is your home as long as you need one. And I don’t think you should work right now. Just come back and get into something comfortable, read a book, hug your dog. You don’t have to figure it all out today.”
“My bills. I’ll drown, Chris—”
“No, you won’t. I will not let you.”
And I meant it.
With her the answer was yes, even when I didn’t know the question. I would do anything, sacrifice anything to keep my promises to her.
And I would never forget what Donna did.
I felt a chasm split between me and that family. A divide that I would never close. My friends and their people were all I had left, but I would not tolerate anyone mistreating Larissa. It was an offense to myself.
And what an underhanded fucked up way to do it too.
What had Mike said that led to this? Because I couldn’t imagine that if he’d told the truth about getting shit-faced drunk and almost killing his ex-girlfriend that Larissa would be the bad guy here.
It actually made me madder at Mike than I already was.
“Come home,” I said again. “Let me take care of you.”
There was a long moment before she replied. “Okay.”