Her face changed.
“It’ll be fine,” she said too quickly.
Dean and I exchanged a look.
That was the kind of “fine” that meant nothing was fine at all.
I asked gently, “What does fine mean?”
Paula looked embarrassed.
“It means I used the last of our savings so the surgery wouldn’t be delayed another month. It means I’m supposed to take unpaid leave while he recovers, and I don’t know how I’m going to pay for medicine, bills, rent, or food.”
There it was.
The fear beneath everything.
Not just the surgery.
Everything after it.
Rick moved first.
He turned toward the section.
“We can’t let her handle that alone.”
The college kid already had his phone out.
“I can set up a fundraiser.”
Someone else said, “I have cash now.”
Dean nodded. “Do it.”
Rick pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.
