“Only for an hour.”
“You said that last Saturday.”
I shrugged.
Natalie opened the refrigerator.
It was almost empty.
“Why do you have four different kinds of energy drinks and no actual food?”
“Marcus bought those.”
“With what money?”
I gave her a look.
She slowly closed the refrigerator.
“Claire.”
“Please don’t.”
“I haven’t even said anything.”
“You’re about to.”
Natalie sat across from me.
“How much did Marcus contribute this month?”
“He’s waiting on two invoices.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“He has a big commercial shoot next week.”
“Claire.”
I stared at my computer.
Natalie leaned forward.
“How much?”
“Two hundred.”
Her eyebrows went up.
Our rent alone was $2,450.
“Two hundred dollars?”
“He bought groceries too.”
“The energy drinks?”
I sighed.
“Natalie.”
She shook her head.
“You know what scares me?”
“What?”
“You talk about him like he’s your teenage son.”
That irritated me.
“He works incredibly hard.”
“So do you.”
“He’s building something.”
“So are you. The difference is, you’re building his life and yours at the same time.”
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
She looked around the apartment.
The second bedroom had once been my home office.
Now it was Marcus’s editing studio.
The hallway closet was filled with camera equipment.
Half the living room had become storage for tripods, cases, microphones, and lights.
My desk was squeezed into the corner of our bedroom.
Natalie pointed toward it.
“You gave him an entire room.”
“He needs it.”
“And what do you need?”
I didn’t answer.
She softened.
“I’m not telling you to leave him.”
“Sounds like you are.”
“I’m asking whether the future you keep sacrificing for is ever actually arriving.”
That sentence stayed with me.
But not enough to change anything.
Not yet.
Three weeks later, Marcus finally got the opportunity he had been waiting for.
A regional outdoor clothing company hired him to produce a promotional campaign.
It wasn’t Hollywood.
It wasn’t even close.
But it was the biggest contract he had ever landed.
Nearly $12,000.
When he called me from the parking lot after signing the agreement, he sounded like a kid.
