His coffee sat beside his chair, already going cold.

“On my birthday?”

“Your birthday doesn’t change the cost of keeping a roof over your head.”

I rubbed the edge of my right thumbnail with my left thumb.

I had a habit of doing that when I wanted to say something that would make a bad conversation worse.

“Could you have waited until tomorrow?”

“The first of the month is coming either way.”

I picked up the cupcake and turned the container around.