Everybody deserves a break.”

I turned my wedding band all the way around and put my hand back on my knee.

“Three days,” I said.

“Nothing to eat in that house but one box of cereal.”

He wrote the check, tore it off, and held it out between two fingers.

“You’re in over your head, Arthur, so take the check and walk away.”

I read the amount.

He had written out the words with the same confidence he did everything.