When Huge Fortune Calls

with a hollow ache and the ech

t of her, more than th

, looking pale and small

per, "I think I' m sick, I di

in, the need to prot

de her tea, tuck

r everything, saying she'

rmured, her eyes full of a

oddamn fool, I belie

ange, uneasy truce, a s

ell, spending days in bed. I tiptoed around, trying

me from a grueling shif

r, but empty of ever

w books she owned, even the cheap l

o

fferent kind of cold th

hone, straigh

ll her accounts, I

she' d nev

ount, the memory of her fei

started to build, pu

t, she' d used me, a

s, Kyle, h

ack, not just for me, but

lived in some sm

set, a grim determina

fueled by coffee a

slightly run-down hou

h, I heard voices from

' s la

questions asked, poor sap," Jessie was s

roze on t

ther' s voice, syrupy and proud. "Secure

pment is amazing," Kyle chimed in, "Fin

n. That' s what

a means

rld we

ck, I slammed

n on her face, her parents looking sta

ation?" I asked, my v

ned, "Ethan! What a

said, stepping into the room, "

her, stood up, puffing out his

snapped, "Your daughter

"Hey! Watch yo

nna launch another 'startup' wit

, "Ethan, please, let

e do this? Back in my empty apartme

led, "I can

I said, my patience gone

sie, "You' re not getting an

hove

oved

ked, his friends, who' d been lurking in the

s landed, the small liv

ng me strength, but ther

ain in my side and Jessie' s face, watchi