Page 72 of Dear Pink

“I’ve been talking to you for the past five minutes. What’s going on?” She wags a finger at me. “You’re a space cadet this morning.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You called Ms. Thompson’s poodle Curly. Curly died last year. Her new poodle’s named Suzie.”

I lay my head on my desk, and Peaches crawls onto my shoulder. She licks my earlobe with her sticky tongue. Poor Ms. Thompson. I can’t believe my mistake.

“Hannah problems?” Gloria asks.

Lolly whimpers. Sensing my despair, she’s been under my desk all day. I lift my head. “Did she call the office?”

“No, but clearly this mood concerns her. Did you do an idiotic male thing?”

“Why do you say that?” I’m sure I insulted Hannah somehow.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Nothinghappened.” I say.

“Something happened. You’re too upset for this to be nothing.”

I flash back to the diner. “We spent $50,000.”

“What?” She scowls at me. “You spent $50,000 of her money?”

“Geez, nothermoney. Well, I guess it’s hers. It’s money she needs to spend on a charity. She asked me to help her decide where to spend it.”

“Did you suggest a stupid idea? Porno? A sports car? New boobs?”

“Of course not.” I spit out the words. “Who do you think I am?”

“My bad. Sorry.” Gloria holds up her hands in surrender. “You’re one of the good guys.”

“Stop riling me up. I’m already stressed.”

“Okay . . . okay. What did you suggest?”

“I said bikes.”

Gloria picks Peaches off my shoulder and cuddles her. “You told her to buy you a new bike? Uncool, Gabe.”

“Nooooo. We discussed buying bikes for disadvantaged kids.”

“Aww. Really? I love that idea.”

“I love it too. We were close to creating something meaningful together, and then she ran away.”

“Ran away?” Gloria hands the kitten to me and opens a bin of treats.

“Biked away actually.” I inspect the insides of Peaches’ ears and she squirms in my hands. I recoil at the thought of telling Gloria the mortifying story, but she won’t drop the issue.

“Let me get this straight. You said, ‘Let’s buy some bikes and give them away to kids,’ and she ran—biked away?” Gloria takes a meowing Peaches and feeds her a kitty treat.

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t make any sense. Why would she take off for no reason?”

I moan, avoiding her probing gaze.

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