“That’s not all,” June whimpered.
“What happened?”
“They called me into the principal’s office this morning,” June sniffled. “They told me they fired Andy, but they’re putting me on leave without pay.” She glanced at me, looking completely helpless and childlike. I rocked her in my arms as she cried.
“That’s bullshit,” I said angrily. “We’re going to have Sandy talk to them, okay? I’ll get you out of this.”
I had the feeling that June would resist but instead she just nodded and sniffled.
“Thank you, Thomas,” June said softly. She extricated herself from my arms and stood up. “I’m going to get a glass of water,” she said. “Do you want one?”
I shook my head.
When June came back, I handed her three hundred dollars. “This isn’t much,” I said quickly. “I’ll get you more tomorrow. But for now, you should have this.”
June’s lower lip quivered and trembled. “Thomas, I can’t take money from you,” she said softly. “I can’t do that. That’s not fair.”
“It is fair,” I said. “You lost your job, okay? I’m going to help you until you get back on your feet.”
June still looked lost.
“Look,” I said quickly. “You don’t have to spend it, just keep it in case something comes up, okay?”
June nodded slowly. “I’ll pay you back,” she said. A tear rolled down her cheek and her chin wobbled.
“We can talk about that later,” I said, somehow knowing that she’d resist any other response.
June sighed. She sagged against me. “I don’t know what to do,” she said quietly.
I squeezed her tightly. “We’ll figure it out,” I said.
“I know you had to meet with Marlene, I’m sorry – you should go,” June said. She sniffled again. “Just call me later, okay?”
I felt so torn and helpless seeing June cry. Never – and I mean never – had a woman’s sobs touched my heart in the same way that June’s did. But I didn’t know what to do – and she was right, I did have to leave.
I stood up, feeling like a worthless piece of shit. “Okay.” I leaned down and kissed June on the forehead. “I’ll call you tonight and see how you’re doing, okay?”
June nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Thank you, Thomas.”
“Anything for you,” I said. I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “And I mean that,” I said firmly. “Anything you need – anything you want, just let me know and it’s yours.”
June gave me a small, sad smile. “Okay,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
I tucked June in with an old afghan and left her on the couch as I ran down the stairs. When I got out to the street, I groaned. My Porsche was barely recognizable. The windshield was shattered and the tires had been slashed. The hood was covered in spray paint.
“Fuck!” I yelled, kicking at a trash can with my foot. A rat, larger than a small dog, skittered out and ran down the street. “And fuck you,” I added, glaring down at the rodent.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “I knew Crown Heights was bad, but fuck, I didn’t think it was this bad!”
The sidewalks were littered with people. In desperation, I grabbed a woman’s arm and pulled her close.
“Did you see who did this?” I gestured frantically towards my wrecked Porsche. “Did you see anything?” I pulled out my wallet, momentarily forgetting that I’d given all of my spare cash to June. “I can pay you,” I added quickly.
The woman glared at me and yanked her arm back. “Crazy man,” she muttered under her breath. “You stay the fuck away from me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stupid bitch,” I said quietly. The other people on the street eyed me with disdain, taking care to step around the obviously-wealthy businessman who had no business in their ‘hood. I groaned, thinking of how much worse my car would be after I left it for a few hours and waited for a tow. As much as I wanted to believe that Hannah had done this, I knew that she was only one of a list of suspects. The rest of the cars on the street were shitty Oldsmobiles and Saturns, all ten years out of date. Someone had probably just seen my Porsche and decided that because they couldn’t have nice things, neither could I.
Just as I was about to call for a car service, a long Lincoln Town Car slowed to a stop. I frowned as the tinted window in the rear rolled down.