Re: Is everything okay?

[Elaine Tonaya]

Fr: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

Dear Cobalt,

In response to your question from earlier, yes, I am all right.

The reason I looked so down at the party was because I was still trying to sort things out after what happened at the shop.

The store was broken into and someone destroyed a lot of my merchandise as well as stealing the money that was in the cash register. They have not yet caught the culprits, but I am receiving some money from the insurance company to help cover everything, and I have a little bit of money stored away from the past years when everything has been good. Please don't worry about me, I will be fine.

If you would like to stop by the store, I will be more than willing to hand you a broom and dustpan and put you to work sweeping up some of the debris and such, though there's not that much left anymore. Now we're at inventory and restocking, so it's mostly things that I have to do as I talk to my suppliers.

I'd also only recently discovered that there were some family issues that I had previously been unaware of. It is nothing to concern you, and it's nothing that turned out badly in the end, but it was just something else to think about that was making me feel very worn out at that time.

I'm still waiting for you to come by and pick up your box of pictures as well as have dinner. Let me know when you want to stop by.

Love,
Elaine

[Cobalt Weaver]

From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

Elaine—

God, I’m so sorry about your shop. Don’t worry, I know you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. You’ve made that expressly clear over the years, trust me. But I know what that shop meant to you. And I’d be more than happy to stop by and help clean up or do whatever. I wish you’d told me sooner, so I could have been a bigger help to you, but I’ve got your back, Lainey. You’ve had mine since school, you know.

I’m sorry about your family as well. But we’ve already hashed this out before. Just know that I’m here if you wanna talk about anything, for what that’s worth. And if you need anything—help, someone to throw things at—I’m always available.

I’d love to have dinner. And I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures. Thanks for keeping them for me. How’s this weekend?

Love,
Blue