Page 41 of Hush Money
“Hi, honey. What are—oh,” she says when she sees him. She knows that we’re friends. She’s the only person I really talk to about it. I’ve told her about his family, how we spend our time together, how he makes me laugh.
The one thing she never does, though, is ask me about his money. She doesn’t ask me if I’m bringing enough to the friendship. Nan is just happy I have someone.
“You must be Keaton,” she says, standing up. She walks toward us and brings me in for a hug. Then she looks at him.
“You must be having a very, very long day,” she says sincerely. He nods slowly.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says. She takes a step forward then slowly wraps him in her arms. And to my absolute shock, he starts to cry. Nan holds him, rubbing his back and patting it. Then, she motions for me to come over to them. I do, and she hands him off to me while she goes to grab some tissues.
So I just stand there in my Nan’s apartment, and I hold my big, tall, billionaire best friend while he cries. When he calms down, I had him a wad of tissues. Nan reappears again with two mugs of hot tea, and she leads us further into her living room.I sit down on the couch and motion for him to sit with me. He does, letting out a long breath.
Nan slowly lifts her paper up.
“Does it have anything to do with this?” she asks.
I read the headline.
SEVEN THOUSAND EVERETT ENTERPRISES EMPLOYEES LAID OFF TWO WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it reads.
My eyes grow wide.
“Oh, Keat,” I whisper, reaching down to squeeze his hand.
“He told us over dinner last night,” he says. “So matter-of-factly.”
I hold his hand with both of mine.
Nan leans forward in her chair, listening intently.
I’m so glad I have my Nan. I’m so glad to have someone in my life who shows me how to show up for people.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“He just said that they were reallocating some funds on the operations side—whatever that means,” he says. “He told us it was necessary so they could expand some other factions of the business. But I think it’s some move that’s going to cover up the fact that he’s paying his rich buddies more.”
I bite my lip.
His father is so cruel.
“I just…seventhousandemployees. That’s just…two weeks before Christmas?” he says, pushing himself to stand. “And the worst part is that it included some mid-level executives. Some of whom have kids at our school.”
Oh, God.
“Keat, it’s not your?—”
“I know it’s not,” he says. “But if I were in their shoes, I’d hate me too.”
There’s a long pause.
I can’t imagine anyone ever hating him. I can’t imagine him ever being deserving of anyone’s hatred. The thought alone makes my blood boil.
I scoot forward and stand up, walking over to him.
“It’s not your burden to bear, Keaton,” I tell him. “I know you want to help them. I know you want to fix this. But this is bigger than you right now. One day, you’ll be able to. But right now, let’s just play seven card rummy and have some tea. Yeah?”
He sniffs, rubbing his temples between his thumb and pointer finger. Then he looks at me then Nan.
For the next four hours, we sit with Nan, eating, drinking tea, and playing cards. After a while, Nan pulls out her photo albums, and he spends a long while laughing hysterically at pictures of me in my *NSYNC nightgown.
