Page 32 of The Girl He Loves

Chapter 12

Monday

“Whoa,”Josie says. “It was nice knowing you.”

Paisley shakes her head and then says to Josie and Jayne, “Let’s get out of here. I want to be able to tell the police he was alive when we left.”

Dax looks around the room confused. “What am I missing?”

My three friends look at me expectantly. I presume they think I’m going to erupt. Had today not been on the spectacular side, I might have already exploded. But today’s been too good for me to want to ruin it with a fight.

Though I do have enough indignation on behalf of all the single moms out there to put some heat in my words. “Tell me Dax, do you just hand out large sums of money to random strangers? Women you think need it?”

He looks to my friends, probably hoping for a clue as to how to answer. Chicken. Then he returns his attention to me. “Not the way you put it, but yeah, I do. I’m involved in a few charities that help single parents.”

“And I could tap into a charity like that if I wanted, couldn’t I?”

He shrugs. “Sure, there’s a process and you have to qualify. But you’d definitely qualify.”

“If you handed me some dollars without me having to go through any process, it would be like jumping ahead in the line. Maybe cheating someone who needs it more than me.”

“No, because me handing you the money doesn’t affect how much I give to those organizations. They still get money from me. You would only be jumping ahead if I used their pot of money. But I’m not. You’re my friend, so I’m offering you money from my wallet. That doesn’t affect the charities I donate to.”

A lifestyle I’m sure I’ll never be familiar with. “Are you telling me you are so flushed with cash that you could afford to give to your charities and to me and not even blink?” It’s not like I’m asking how much he has in savings, or anything.

He nods. “Yeah, I am. Not solely from my league pay, but from endorsement deals, too. Listen.” He holds up a hand to stop me from continuing the argument. “I never meant to offend you. But life has been good to me. I like to pay it forward. If I can help you, that would mean even more to me than helping a person I get to know through reading an application submitted to the charity. Helping you would make me feel good. Would make me feel like the concussions were worth it.”

His argument takes the steam right out of me. “Thing is, Dax. You giving me money wouldn’t make me feel good. Whether right or wrong, I’d feel obligated. Like, if I were to splurge on a dress for me or takeout, you might resent that a little because those are luxuries I can’t afford, yet I’m taking them from the money you’d be giving me.”

“I wouldn’t begrudge you those things.”

I shrug. “Maybe you think you wouldn’t. But I see it all the time. Heck, just go through social media, and you’ll see it. A person who's got extra money and spends it after payday can do something like, I dunno, get a manicure to make themselves feel better. A person like me, who lives paycheck to paycheck, can’t do that because then we’re looked at as irresponsible. We’re not allowed things that make us feel better until we pull ourselves out of the situation we’re in. And I don’t want to have that happen between us”—I face my friends—“or us.”

Dax nods, his way of processing what I’ve said. Then he meets my gaze and says, “If I had one wish, it would be for that not to be true.”

Something warm and pleasant courses through me. Maybe it’s because I’m surrounded by people who genuinely care for me. But whatever it is, it fills my cup. “Me, too. Trust me, if it weren’t true, all my problems would be solved,” I joke. “Because I’ve got lots of people who want to give me money.”

We laugh, my joke having broken the tension.

“Wow,” Paisley says, “That went way different than I thought it would.”

“Right,” Jayne says. “I’m relieved he’s not dead.”

“Me, too,” Dax says and makes like he’s wiping sweat from his head.

We laugh, and I punch him in the arm.

Tyler walks into the room. “What’s so funny?”

I ruffle his hair. “Nothing, adult humor.”

He raises a lip. “I don’t get adult humor.”

Josie says, “You will one day. But for now, did you see what Dax brought?”

She shows him the ice cream and all the extras. His eyes go wide.

“Can I have more than one topping?” His look is pleading.

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