“No.”
Her face changed as if she genuinely didn’t understand.
“We have to leave soon.”
“I know.”
“So what are we supposed to do with four bags of dirty clothes?”
I gestured toward the washing machine.
“There’s the washer.”
She looked from the machine to me.
“You expect me to do all this now?”
That was when I knew my little lesson had worked better than I expected.
“You brought four bags here this morning because you expected me to do all this.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
Vanessa opened her mouth, then closed it.
“You always do it,” she finally said.
There it was.
Not “You offered.”
Not “I thought you wouldn’t mind.”
“You always do it.”
I folded my arms.
“Exactly.”
Josh shifted beside her.
“Mom, maybe we can just take it home.”
“You absolutely can.”
Vanessa turned on him.
“We can’t take all of this home. The kids need clean clothes for school, and you need work shirts Monday.”
He glanced at his basket.
“Then we can wash some tonight.”
“We’ll be doing laundry until midnight.”
I nodded.
“Now you understand why four bags didn’t seem like a small favor to me.”
Vanessa’s cheeks turned red.
“I didn’t force you.”
