“It may take me getting in front of a judge to find out what we’re up against.”
“Which will be when?”
“If the bank has a leg to stand on, they won’t be afraid of a judge, which means—”
“Right away,” she says. “And if they don’t, they’ll stall. How long can they do that?”
“A few weeks at most, and that’s if everything works against me, and I won’t let that happen. But they’re in this deep. They will try to force you to crack under the pressure. In the meantime, we’ll prepare to hit back, and hard.”
“What about me paying down the debt? Why wouldn’t I do that?”
I steel myself for her reaction, and set down her mug that I’m still holding. “Because I paid the past-due amount and six months in advance.”
She blanches and holds her hands up. “I think I misheard you. I need to pay six months in advance? That’s double what I have in the bank.”
“I paid it, Faith.”
“No,” she says.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Get it back,” she says fiercely. “Tell them you want it back. I’m not taking your money.”
“They will and they did. It’s done, and by cashier’s check.”
“I’m not taking your money, Nick,” she says, her tone absolute. “Thank you. I mean that and those words feel too small for what you’ve done, but you don’t know me well enough to do this. And even if you did, I don’t want charity.”
“It’s not charity. It’s a gift that I want nothing in exchange for. And as I’ve asked before, when do I knowenough, Faith? I can fuck you all I want, but I can’t give a damn? Because I give a damn. I get it. It’s early. It’s new. But it is what it is, and I can’t change that.”
She presses her hands to her face, and I can see them tremble, as they did last night when she found out that she’d earned sixty thousand dollars on her art. And I don’t know how it’s possible, but I know this woman in a way that defies the time we’ve been together. I reach for her hands and pull them between us. “I’m alone in this world too. You know that, right?”
“You don’t seem alone.”
“Why? Because I’m foul-mouthed, cocky as you say, and sexy as fuck?”
“Nick,” she whispers, no laugh this time.
“I know that we are new to each other. I know it feels like you could count on me and then I’ll be gone, but I’m not going to be. Even if you decide you don’t want to beusanymore, I’m your friend. I will remain your friend. And I don’t have a lot of friends, but the ones I have, I take care of. Okay?”
“The money—”
“Is not a big deal to me. I know that feels big to you, but it’s not a lot to me. I’ve done well for myself, but my bastard of a father was rich as fuck and now I have his money. And I’d like to do more than a few good things with it.”
“How much was the check you wrote?”
“A hundred and twenty thousand.”
“Nick,” she breathes out. “You can’t—”
“I already did.”
“It’s a lot of money.”
“I just told you. I have a lot of money.”