He must have sounded jealous earlier, Ezra reflected, because she felt the need to explain it to him now, in spite of what he'd just said and in spite of the fact that he had no rights to an explanation. Her explanation surprised him, so much so that he initially wondered if he'd misunderstood it somehow. Colleagues, boss were words that he knew but he had never seen them applied to this context before. Rosalie didn't have a job — or she hadn't, ten months ago. Apparently that had changed, because he could think of absolutely no other way to make sense of what she'd said.
Rosalie had an occupation, and Delaney was her boss. It was difficult to sort through the tangle of emotion these pieces of information created, but the one that eventually won out against the others was concern. Was she working because she needed to work? Had something happened to her family's finances, maybe something that prevented her father from working? She didn't have brothers — not anymore.
He was three steps into working through what he could offer her in terms of support before he realized how insane it would be to even suggest it. Rosalie had left him. Jilted men did not offer to pay their former fiancee's mortgages. Even if something terrible had happened to her father and Ezra had always gotten on well with him — even if she was on the brink of destitution — it was simply impossible. And it wasn't as though the Applegates were so comfortable that it would have been trivial to add the expense. With Ezra's father so thoroughly out of commission he was mostly shouldering the burden of providing for the rest of the family. He could do so without running into issues, but given the... fragility of Byron's situation (and Ezra's, honestly — his coworkers at the Department of Mysteries had certainly noticed his issues for the past ten months) it wasn't as though they could be sure that would continue.
She had been about to say something, and had stopped herself, and Ezra felt it would be most prudent to try and get her to continue before he said or did something regrettable. Maybe she was planning to give him some more context, and maybe more context was what he needed. "You...?" he prompted.
Rosalie had an occupation, and Delaney was her boss. It was difficult to sort through the tangle of emotion these pieces of information created, but the one that eventually won out against the others was concern. Was she working because she needed to work? Had something happened to her family's finances, maybe something that prevented her father from working? She didn't have brothers — not anymore.
He was three steps into working through what he could offer her in terms of support before he realized how insane it would be to even suggest it. Rosalie had left him. Jilted men did not offer to pay their former fiancee's mortgages. Even if something terrible had happened to her father and Ezra had always gotten on well with him — even if she was on the brink of destitution — it was simply impossible. And it wasn't as though the Applegates were so comfortable that it would have been trivial to add the expense. With Ezra's father so thoroughly out of commission he was mostly shouldering the burden of providing for the rest of the family. He could do so without running into issues, but given the... fragility of Byron's situation (and Ezra's, honestly — his coworkers at the Department of Mysteries had certainly noticed his issues for the past ten months) it wasn't as though they could be sure that would continue.
She had been about to say something, and had stopped herself, and Ezra felt it would be most prudent to try and get her to continue before he said or did something regrettable. Maybe she was planning to give him some more context, and maybe more context was what he needed. "You...?" he prompted.
![[Image: 5WWaDR1.png]](https://i.imgur.com/5WWaDR1.png)