Evan was holding the other.
“Give it back!”
“No.”
“It’s mine!”
“Exactly,” Cal snapped. “That’s why I’m not taking it.”
Mr. Alvarez saw me.
“Thank God.”
Evan spun around.
The moment he saw me, he let go of the envelope.
“Mom?”
I stopped several feet away.
“What is going on?”
Nobody answered.
I pointed toward the envelope.
“Is that your paycheck?”
Evan stared at the floor.
“Yes.”
“And why was Cal holding it?”
Cal tossed it onto the counter.
“Because your son tried to give me every cent.”
I turned toward Evan.
“What?”
“It isn’t like that.”
Cal folded his arms.
“Then explain it.”
Evan glared at him.
“Stay out of it.”
“Evan.”
He went quiet.
I picked up the envelope.
“Why would you give Cal your entire paycheck?”
Evan answered too quickly.
“Because I owed him.”
Cal slapped one palm against the counter.
“There! That’s what he always says.”
“I did owe you.”
“For what?”
“For helping me.”
Cal stared at him.
“You helped me carry twelve boxes of potatoes last month.”
Evan’s jaw tightened.
“So?”
“So am I supposed to hand over my retirement check?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because it is.”
I looked at Mr. Alvarez.
“Can somebody please explain this?”
The diner owner leaned against the register.
“How much do you think Evan has saved toward the bike?”
The question caught me off guard.
“I don’t know.”
I glanced at my son.
“He keeps saying he’s almost there.”
Mr. Alvarez nodded.
“That’s what he tells us too.”
Evan’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
Mr. Alvarez ignored him.
“You know how many paychecks he’s actually kept in six months?”
I waited.
“One.”
I thought I’d misheard.
“One?”
“The first.”
I turned slowly toward Evan.
“Where did the rest go?”
“Mom.”
“Where?”
He looked away.
That silence frightened me more than the broken dishes.
Evan had wanted that bike for almost a year.
I could still remember him showing me the listing.
I had offered to help buy it.
He had refused.
“I want to earn it.”
Now I realized he had earned enough for it long ago.
Probably several times over.
Yet he had no bike.
And apparently almost no money.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
“It is my money.”
“Yes.”
“And I can do what I want with it.”
“You are thirteen.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to know everything.”
