I laugh and rest my head on her shoulder. We get through the episode and another before I get up to use the bathroom. When I get back, she’s staring at me with her arms crossed.
“Okay, tell me what the hell is going on.”
Groaning, I plop onto the couch, leaning back with my eyes closed.
“Why does everything have to be so hard, Cammy?”
“What’s hard, Cass? I’m pretty sure we’re doing pretty well over here.”
I turn my head to look at her. “I signed the papers for custody of Chrissy today.”
She gasps, her eyes widening. Then she growls and slaps me.
“Hey!”
“Why couldn’t you tell me that when you first came in, you jerk?”
“Sorry, I’m… in a bad mood, and I’m trying not to let it bother me because this is amazing news, but I’m sosad.”
Cammy throws her arms around me, and we sit in silence for a while before she says, “It’s okay to be in a bad mood sometimes. You can’t be strong all the time, Cass. And you have been strong for a long time. You’re the oldest, you’ve dealt with all of this the longest. Things are good right now, at least here. So, what’s going on that has you upset?”
I rest my head against hers, reaching to hold onto her forearm.
“It’s… everything with Harmon.”
I wait for her to say something smart, because she usually does. Smart but accurate. She doesn’t hold anything back but always adds sass with what she says. It’s one of the reasons I love her so much.
“The job? Because you like him? Cass, if you—”
“No, it’s not that. I mean it is, but… we’re, like… I don’t know. Things were different before we went away for the weekend, and then things got out of control there and we threw the contract out the window...”
“I was going to say if you don’t want to work with him anymore, you don’t have to. We can figure this out.”
“How can we figure this out without him, Cam? We’ve never seen money like this before. Hell, most of the country doesn’t see money like this.”
“We can get better jobs and work our asses off like other people do. Now that we’re here and safe, I can work more hours. I can get a second job. A third. I could—”
“No, you need to go to school.”
“No, Cass. I don’t.”
“Yes, you do!” I shout, sitting up. “Yes, Cammy. This is what you want to do, and you need to do it. I can keep doing this, make sure we have the money, and you will go to school.”
She gapes at me, sitting up and rearing back. “Why do you always do that?”
“Do what? Help?”
“Put everyone else in front of you and then complain that you don’t have what you want?”
I gape at her. “What are you talking about? I don’t do that.”
She rolls her eyes. “When’s the last time you bought yourself something? Like for you. Something you wanted? Because I won’t lie to you, I’ve been buying myself a milkshake every single time I get paid for the last year.”
My eyes widen. I had no idea.
“Yeah, can you believe it?” she says. “I felt bad about it every time. That’s like $6 we could have used for something else, but you know what? That milkshake made my day a little better.”
“You work hard, Cam. You deserve that. And so much more.”