Both.
Caleb stared at it.
Dev Patel appeared beside him.
“Nora specified requirements.”
“You talked to my daughter?”
“Mara did.”
“She said both colors were mandatory.”
Caleb touched the ornament.
“You people need boundaries.”
Dev shrugged.
“Apparently not.”
Christmas Eve morning, Caleb did not work.
That had been part of the reinstatement agreement.
He and Nora went to buy a tree.
The tree lot had very little left.
Mostly crooked ones.
Trees nobody chose earlier.
Nora inspected each like an engineer.
Finally, she selected a six-foot fir leaning significantly to the left.
“This one.”
Caleb looked at it.
“It has structural concerns.”
“It’s lonely.”
“That is not a recognized tree criterion.”
“It is now.”
They bought it.
The seller gave them twenty dollars off because the trunk curved.
At home, Caleb spent forty-five minutes trying to make the tree appear vertical.
Nora watched.
“Maybe it wants to lean.”
“Trees do not get preferences inside apartments.”
“You said people should speak up about problems.”
“It is a tree.”
“You’re not listening.”
Caleb stared at her.
“You’ve become difficult since I got promoted.”
She smiled.
They let the tree lean.
That evening, somebody knocked.
Caleb opened the door.
Ronan.
Mara.
Lena.
Dev.
Eli.
Then more.
Not thirty-seven.
Caleb’s apartment was not large enough for thirty-seven adults.
Maybe twelve.
They brought food.
Ronan brought absolutely nothing.
“I contributed emotionally.”
He explained.
Nora wore a red sweater and moved through the apartment explaining exactly who had given which present under the tree.
Caleb stood near the kitchen watching people who had worked beside him for years fill the space Emily once filled differently.
The grief was still there.
It always would be.
But grief had stopped being the only thing in the room.
Mara handed Caleb an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“Accounting.”
He frowned.
“The money.”
“Oh.”
Caleb had spent most of the previous night calculating what everyone contributed.
He planned to repay them.
Mara saw his expression.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You have the face.”
“What face?”
“The repayment face.”
“I got my job back.”
“Congratulations.”
“I don’t need the rent money.”
“Then donate it.”
“To what?”
“Whatever.”
“But if you start handing everybody checks, Ronan is going to become emotionally violent.”
Across the room, Ronan said:
“I heard my name.”
“Nothing.”
Mara replied.
Caleb looked at the list.
Then at Nora.
A month later, the remaining money became the beginning of a small employee emergency fund.
Northstar matched it after Miriam heard.
Employees could apply confidentially for short-term help with emergencies.
Medical bills.
Housing crisis.
Childcare.
Travel after a death.
Caleb insisted his name not be attached.
Ronan suggested calling it the “Don’t Be Stupid Fund.”
Corporate communications rejected that.
Ronan considered this censorship.
The final name was the Northstar Employee Relief Fund.
Less memorable.
More appropriate.
The formal investigation into Graham Voss took several weeks.