I was waiting for Aaron to say how unfair it was, how wrongheaded Rick had been, maybe even make warlike noises about threatening Rick. Not that I expected that to happen; it wasn’t Aaron’s style. But it would have been thrilling, since Aaron could have squashed him like a bug, and damn it, weren’t men supposed to fight for you? The honor of a lady was at stake, as Oscar would’ve said. Not that I wanted to be thinking about Oscar just then. But Aaron only sighed and looked all serious.

“You might want to think about patching things up with him.”

“No way.”

“I said, think about it.”

“He was a total prick. It’s not the only job in the world.”

“Yeah, but it’s the only one you have.”

“Had,” I corrected.

“So, there’s nothing you can even pretend to apologize for? Did you have that look on your face? The one that says, ‘I am talking to the biggest jackass in creation’?”

“I don’t do that.” Although maybe I did. “Anyway, I don’t know how I looked, there weren’t any mirrors, and what does that have to do with Rick reaming me out? Don’t tell me you’d apologize.”

“There’s times at work I’ve had to suck it up and do exactly that.”

“How about he apologizes to me,” I said. “Sorry, but I’m not sorry.”

We were both quiet then. He didn’t mention money. We were going to have to talk about it sooner rather than later. I didn’t bring home any big paycheck, but we used every bit of it. We could let a few things slide for a while, we could put a few more things on a card. But not many, and not for long. I said, “Don’t tell my mom. I’ll tell her, but not right away. I don’t want to end up wearing scrubs and carpooling to work with her.”

“Don’t bite my head off, but would that be the worst thing you could do?”

I didn’t trust myself to say anything. Now I wasn’t just losing a job—or more accurately, walking away from it—I might be herded into one I’d loathe.

When I didn’t answer, Aaron said, “All right, don’t work at the hospital. Fine. Figure out what you want to do instead. Seems like we’re always talking about what you want to do and what you don’t. Here’s your chance to sort it all out.”

“One door closes, another opens,” I said, meaning to be sarcastic, but Aaron nodded, like, finally I was getting it. “Could you hold off on the helpful suggestions?”

“I was just trying to be—”

“Because you sound like you think something’s wrong with me.”