Accepted: A Military Romance (A Soldier's Sacrifice Book 4) by Nadine Hudson

Author:Nadine Hudson [Hudson, Nadine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

***

Devin

The look on Melanie’s face was part skeptical mixed with shock mixed with a little bit of “who do you think you are.” I should have been used to saying all the wrong things by now—and Melanie should be used to me sticking my foot in my mouth by now—but it didn’t seem that way.

“Wait, before you get mad—” I started to say, holding my hands up like I was trying to physically block her anger.

“I’m not mad,” she interrupted in a strangely calm voice. “I mean, I’m a little shocked. But only because you’re only the second person in the world who even offered to help instead of just telling me what I should do.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering what else people thought she should do.

“Everybody tells me all the time,” Melanie continued, looking kind of resigned. “They always say things like, ‘You work too hard, you shouldn’t be working in the evenings, too. You make enough money, you don’t have to work a second job.’ Or my favorite, ‘You should just quit working all together and focus on Sam, there’s a reason welfare exists, you know.’”

I winced on instinct. I may have said things like that to a few people in my life without realizing what I was saying.

“The truth is,” Melanie continued, “I make too much money for Sam to get free healthcare. And even if I quit working completely, he’s not eligible for it if I own this house. So my choices are work and pay for his care, or give up everything and move into government housing and try to get him free healthcare.

“But not once has anyone—except my mother, that is—actually offered to help.” Melanie stopped and looked at me, watching my eyes for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” I said on reflex. “I can’t imagine what people have said to you, but I can take your word for it. I bet it sucked.”

Melanie laughed, somehow finding it in her to see the humor in it right now. “Yeah, it does. There have even been comments about the fact that my second job is in a bar. Again, I’d love to quit, people! But what are my options?”

“That’s where I come in,” I started to say, but Melanie held up a hand to stop me.

“If you’re going to suggest giving me money, please don’t. I won’t take it. My mom has already offered too, but I just can’t do that. It would hurt my pride too much, and right now, things aren’t so bad that I need it.” She looked down at her hands folded in her lap for a second and said, “I think I’m just scared that if I take help right now—when the day comes that Sam actually gets his liver and the transplant wipes out any hope of me ever having a bank account again—that there won’t be anyone left to lean on.”

“Are you done?” I asked with a smirk after Melanie had kind of worn herself down. She nodded. “Good, because I wasn’t just going to offer to give you some money.

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