that,” Lance assured him. Then he frowned at Kirk as he pushed his tongue into the side of his mouth. “Are you? Is that why you – how do you even know why I’m here?”
“Cass told me.”
“Of course she did,” Lance and Abraham sighed at the exact same time.
“Excuse me!” Kristy had her cell phone in her hand. “Do you want me to call security? Because I will! Believe me I will.”
“All right,” Kirk eased. “I’m going.” He looked to Lance... well, to his chin anyway. He couldn’t look him in the eyes just yet. “Can I speak to you outside for a moment?”
Lance hesitated.
“Please,” Kirk pleaded.
“Fine. Let me just...” He looked back to the room. “I’ll be one minute. Feel free to... I don’t know – draw up the paperwork without me. Or whatever you do.” Lance looked to the ground as he walked past Kirk and out the door.
“Sorry,” Kirk apologized to the room. Both Kristy and Abraham were glaring daggers at him, so he offered another quick apology nod and then ducked out and closed the door behind him.
The hallway outside the office was empty, save for Lance. He stood a few feet down, looking like he was convincing himself not to just run. The sight of Kirk approaching seemed to swing the argument in favor of running. It looked like it took all of Lance’s will power to stay put.
“Kirk,” Lance said as coolly as he could. “You said you needed to—”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Kirk exploded once he was within a few feet of him. He didn’t realize how angry he was until he started shouting. “You’re selling the Macro Bar to Abraham?”
“I guess you already know what I’m doing then,” he mumbled.
“Don’t be cute.”
“Trust me, I’m not.”
“Why are you selling the bar?” Kirk started to calm down a little. He took a step back from Lance, not even realizing how close he had been. “Is the payment plan too much? I can change it if—”
“What? No that’s not – ha. It’s crazy that even after all I did... you’re still thinking of...” Lance bit his tongue and looked down at his shoes. “It’s got nothing to do with that,” he mumbled.
“Then why?” Kirk pleaded. “Please tell me why – if you sell the bar to Abraham, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. It’s a good idea. It’s your idea.” Kirk had no idea what to do with his hands. He curled them into fists, but half held them forward as if for Lance to grab... not that he wanted that.
Lance looked as broken as Kirk had ever seen him. From the way he kicked at the ground, to how he hunched his shoulders; it was a sad sight. “I couldn’t do it to you. I couldn’t.”
“Do what?”
“If I don’t sell the bar, it’s going to take two years to pay you back.”
“I know,” Kirk said. “I came up with the plan – is it too much? I can extend it to three.”
“No, that’s not – I don’t want to be in your debt for that long.” Lance’s head snapped up and he met Kirk’s stare. He was pleading with him, begging him to just say OK and walk away. “You shouldn’t have to wait that long for me to pay you back. It’s not right.”
“I don’t care.” It was true too. He didn’t.
“But I do.” Lance punched at his chest. “Nothing I do can take back what I did to you – that's not what this is. Nothing I do can take it back. But I can stop it from being worse. I have that power at least. You shouldn’t have to be in my debt for a second, let alone two years.”
“Seriously?” Kirk actually felt relieved. He’d had no idea what to expect. Was Lance moving? Was he dying? No idea! This was actually workable. “Lance, I told you, you don’t have to worry—”
“But I do.”
“But you shouldn’t!” Kirk snapped. “Do you know how stupid it would be to sell your bar right now? Just as it’s getting going.”
“Right,” Lance said flatly. “Because I’m the stupid one and—”
“Don’t.” Kirk warned. “You know that’s not what I mean. I just –-” He stamped his foot in frustration as he tried to get himself back on track. “I don’t want you to throw your life away because of me – because you’re worried about me. It’s dumb. You don’t have to do this.”
Lance had been getting steadily more