Page 44 of For Crosby

She smiled, a comeback sitting at the ready. But instead, she lifted her fork to her mouth and ate another bite of food.

“So, tell me what Santa brought you.”

She shrugged. “Just some clothes and a new phone.”

“That’s cool.”

She continued eating.

Before I allowed an uncomfortable silence to creep its way in, I reached for my phone and queued up some holiday music. A Christmas song filled the silence.

Sabrina smiled. “Didn’t take you for the Christmas music type of guy.”

“Oh no?”

She shook her head. “Heavy metal maybe.”

I snickered. “Because of all the anger I’ve got bottled up inside?”

She stared at me, her eyes filled with wonder. “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have anger bottled up inside?”

I shrugged. “It’s pretty hard not to when your parents are in jail, your friends deserted you, and your broke ass can barely afford a phone. It’s just a matter of time before it gets shut off.”

The sympathy in her eyes was difficult to miss. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t steal money from innocent people. You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.”

“I meant I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry they didn’t think about where it might leave you.”

I grabbed a napkin off the desk and wiped it across my mouth. “If I’ve learned anything from what happened, it’s money isn’t the root of all evil. Greed is. My grandparents left my dad very well off. He didn’t need to embezzle money. But he did. And I hate him for it.”

“It must be hard hating someone you’re supposed to love.”

I crumbled up my napkin and tossed it into the small trash can in the corner. “It sucks.”

“You didn’t mention your mom.”

“She was an unknowing accomplice. Signing paperwork she didn’t read and allowing my father to put her name on everything business related.”

Sabrina nodded, and though she had no idea what it was like to be me, I believed she understood my pain.

We finished off our meals and Sabrina stood, grabbing our empty dishes and tossing them into the now empty bag.

Worry suddenly twisted my gut. Did she plan to head back home now that we’d eaten? Had she done her good deed for the year? Was she now off to bestow pity on someone else? Anger crept in. The type I couldn’t control. The type that overtook my thoughts and shook my bones.

“So, what should we do now?” she asked.

Her words stilled my anger. “You’re not leaving?”

Her mouth parted slightly. “Oh…I just thought…”

Oh, fuck. “No, I meant I didn’t think you’d want to hang around here.”

“No, that’s fine.” She scrambled around trying to secure the covers on the food containers. “My dorm’s one of them they close over break, so I can head home.”

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