We Opened the Store Together,They Kept the Profits

Laid off in middle age, I put every cent I had into opening a place with the friend I'd grown up with.

We'd agreed on it. Fifty-fifty.

Then at year's end the place cleared eight hundred grand, and my oldest friend handed me eight thousand.

I looked at the money on the table and didn't touch it.

Saul Gilbert had a cigarette in one hand, and the other slid brazenly around my wife's waist.

"What, not enough?"

"I found the storefront. I ran the renovation. I bought the ingredients. I handled all the paperwork."

"You chopped vegetables and worked a pan. Eight grand's more than fair."