I found Onyx waiting for me outside Pauly’s office.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

I shrugged, looking around at the large men sitting on the sofa waiting to go in. “Umm, let’s go somewhere and talk.”

She nodded, and the two of us walked outside and down the street. We walked in silence, and as we maneuvered the streets, I realized Pauly’s office wasn’t that far from one of the older Harper Shipping buildings. My father had said I was fired, but I wasn’t sure how far that news ran down the pike, and the secretary over there, Michelle, had always liked me. I was pretty sure she’d let me pop in and use the private office in the back, if I asked. It wasn’t a perfect location to talk, but it was closer than my apartment, and I didn’t want to go someplace public, where we could be overheard

“I know a place nearby we can talk,” I told her. “It’s just a couple of blocks.”

We walked in silence, me holding her hand and leading the way until we reached our destination. “Harper Shipping” was printed in block lettering across the front of the building.

I held the door open for her, and she entered. This was one of the older locations, a smaller office with minimal staff. It was a nice location, but hadn’t been updated much. I almost think my father had a certain nostalgia for it. It was one of his father’s first acquisitions. Close to the water and centrally located, it had been a big part of the early days. My father used to bring me here when I was little. Michelle has worked here since I was five.

She was an older woman now, her graying hair up in a bun, but a large smile on her face. She stood when we entered, and walked over to me. She was my height, in her heels, and still wore a fair amount of makeup. “Ryan,” she said. “What a pleasant surprise.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I was in the area, and was hoping I could borrow the little meeting room for a minute.”

Her smile faded for a moment. “Does your father know about this?” she asked.

“Well, since I didn’t know about until about five minutes ago, no, he doesn’t. But, I’m sure he’ll be alright with it.”

She didn’t look convinced.

I smiled bigger, winked at her. “Or, he doesn’t even have to know. We’ll be in and out in 20 minutes.”

She nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Show yourself back.”

I thanked her, grabbed Onyx’s hand and led her through the hallway, past the larger meeting room, and to the smaller room.

It was almost like a converted closet, just two chairs, a small desk and no windows. The nice thing was it was quiet and no one ever came back here. I pointed to a chair and she sat. I pulled my chair close to hers and sat.

She grinned at me. “So, you charm all the women at the office?”

I rolled my eyes. “Michelle? No. She’s known me since I was 5. She would always give me candies from her desk when I came with my dad.”

“On lunch days?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Just if my mother thought I should be exposed to work life, he’d bring me here and sit me in the lobby with Michelle. She’d give me candy and drawing paper. I think she had a stash for the occasional kid visiting the office.”

Onyx nodded. “So, what did you and Pauly discuss?”

Her payment being my responsibility would have been the simplest answer. I’d negotiated him into giving me a credit of $600k for extra diamonds she’d brought in. I also got him to back off cutting her pay by a $100k, so long as I covered it, which I readily agreed to. Yet, I didn’t really want to talk specifics with her. “Just how much I owed him.”

She frowned. “It wasn’t right of him to try to take my pay out of your cut. I can talk to him,” she assured me. “And if he still insists, I can go back to my original payment. I only need the $150k to cover Lynx’s treatment.”

I shook my head. “You deserve your payment, in full, what Pauly promised you,” I told her. “I talked to him, apologized for the error. That’s all he wanted. A little kowtowing. He’s going to pay you what he promised. And he’s not charging it to me.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

She eyed me with skepticism. “I didn’t realize you were such a good negotiator.”

She was right that I wasn’t a great negotiator. But I was trying to be a better person, and a better person wouldn’t let Pauly fleece her, not when she went above and beyond to help when she didn’t have to. I smiled, as if I was a master negotiator. “What Pauly wants is his money, and he’s going to get it,” I said. “Speaking of which, do you mind telling me why you changed the plans and didn’t bother to tell me?

“Because it was a last-minute idea. The more time I spent with you, the more I realized that you had made a big mistake, and that you just needed help getting out of it. I thought I could help you and me at the same time.”

I drummed my fingers on my thigh, a little irritated. “You didn’t think I was able to get out of this myself?”

She shook her head, vigorously. “No,” she blurted out. “I just thought I was in a position to help you, so I would. Haven’t you ever helped someone just because you could?”

I hoped that was a rhetorical question, because the truth was, no. In general, I didn’t just help people because I could. That was more Lily’s thing. That was more anyone else’s thing but mine. Yet, I knew that was going to change. Helping people because you could was something you should do. Something I’d done today when I spoke with Pauly. “On occasion,” I replied.

“Then you understand where I’m coming from?”

I nodded.

“Are you mad? I mean that I didn’t tell you?”

I shook my head. “You did a nice thing.” I looked down at the table. It was small and old and not really up to the standards of Harper Shipping. Things here were supposed to look posh and beautiful. But this one seemed worn, perhaps a little frail. A bit like the way I felt. “So,” I said, looking up at her. “About us.”

She smiled, which seemed like a good sign.

“I’m leaving to go with Lynx, but when I get back, we can see...” she paused, looking at her hands a moment. “See where this leads.”  She looked me in the eye.

“I’d like that,” I was saying as the door to the room banged open. I turned to see my father standing there, his face red with anger. He looked at Onyx with pure loathing. She looked surprised to see him, but she stood up, and held out a hand.

“Mr. Harper. It’s good to see you again.”

My father did not reach out his hand to shake hers. Instead he turned to me and said, “I should’ve known.”

“Known what?” I asked.

He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. His voice low, he said. “You were in India. We turned on the locator on your cell phone when we had no idea where you’d gone. And no doubt your trip had something to do with her.” He pointed a finger at Onyx. “After what happened with Lily, how could you go off with her? Do you have any idea what it would do to your mother if she lost you, too?”

I turned to look at Onyx, who had taken a step back, and lowered her eyes to stare at the ground.

“Just stop,” I said to my father. “You have no right to talk to Onyx that way.”

My father shook his head. “Oh my God. What did she do to you, son? I have no idea what this scam artist has done to convince both you and Lily that she’s worth having in your life?”

If I wasn’t so angry at him, I would have been shocked at his candor and rancor toward Onyx. As it were, I just wanted him to stop. “You have no right, dad,” I said. “None. Onyx has done nothing but help me, and help Lily.”

“How did she help Lily? By encouraging her to go to some godforsaken backwaters where she could be killed on the street and die without medical care.”

Onyx closed her eyes, took another step back.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, dad,” I shouted at him. “Onyx was Lily’s best friend. And Lily went to India because she wanted to. What happened to Lily was a freak accident, and the fact that you insist on blaming Onyx is both cruel and cowardly. You spent your life doing bullshit instead of spending time with your daughter, and instead of admit that you fucked up, you want to blame her friend for something that wasn’t her fault.”

My father shook his head, and then turned to Onyx. “You know, he has no money. We cut off his trust fund. He’s been fired from this company. Whatever your game is, there is no money in it.”

I grabbed his arm, and he turned back to look at me. I spoke low, but clear. “Guess what, dad? She knows. She knows, because she asked me. She knows because she cares, and she knows because she accepts me for who I am, and she agrees to help no strings attached, which is more than I can say for you.”

His eyebrows squished together and his dyed hair pulled at the edges of his scalp. “What are you talking about?”

“You know how you decided you’d cut me off because I was behaving recklessly.”

He stared at me wordlessly.

“Well, that morning you cut me off, I came to tell you that I’d messed up, that I needed help, because I was in hock to a mobster for a million dollars.”

My father’s eyes widened and he mouthed one million.

“Yes, a million dollars that I did not have, a million dollars I was planning to get as an advance from on my trust fund. Only, you read me such the riot act, that I couldn’t’ ask. So, I decided to go to this mobster and ask for an extension. He told me he’d give it to me—six whole months — if I convinced Onyx to do a job for him.”

He looked at Onyx, then back at me. “She’s involved with mobsters?”

“No, dad, I’m involved with mobsters. She knew a mobster who wanted her to do help him steal diamonds, and she said no.”

He breathed out, looked between us. “That’s good I suppose. But son, why were you in India?”

“Because I convinced her to do it, to help me, by helping this mobster steal diamonds. And the diamonds were in India. And I went there with her and I helped her steal diamonds and when I came back, we gave those diamonds to a mobster and he’s giving me six months to get my act together. And she did that to help me, because I asked her. Because she said if Lily had asked her to help me, she would have done it. Because she was Lily’s friend, even though you want to pretend it’s not true. Even though you want to pretend she somehow stole Lily from you. Lily was there for you all along, but you ignored her, and she gravitated to people who truly were her friends, towards people who truly cared.”

My father was staring at me wide eyed. Finally, he said, “Are you drunk?”

I laughed. Of course. That would be his thought. That would be where he went. I shook my head. “No, I’m sober. Sober because for the first time in my life I’ve had to work to try to clean up a mess I made. I’ve had to do it myself. And doing something yourself doesn’t mean you can’t ask for assistance. I asked for help and Onyx gladly gave it. But it does mean you have to roll up your sleeves and put in some work and take responsibility if it doesn’t go right. And I’ve done that. For the first time in my life, I’ve done that. I suppose I have you to thank for that. So, thank you. But you have no right to come in here and yell at the one person who has helped both of your children immensely.”

“By killing one and turning the other into a jewel thief”

I huffed incredulously, and took a step toward Onyx, holding out my hand to her. She hesitated a second and then took it. I felt a thrill in her touch, a confidence that she had trusted me just now. No questions asked. I turned back to my father. “We’re leaving, and I don’t want you to talk to her, or me again unless you have something kind to say.”

I brushed past my father, opening the door with my free hand and tugged Onyx through it.