“That was wrong of me,” I said. “I should have told you the day I did it. I was afraid of this phone call, and I put it off, and that was cowardly. I’m sorry for that part.”
There was a long silence. I could hear cartoons going in the background.
“What did you pay?”
“Five hundred and fifty.”
“So it wasn’t even the money.” Her voice went up thin. “It’s two hundred and fifty dollars’ difference. You’d rather pay a stranger than your own family?”
“Mr. Brandt isn’t a stranger. And no. I’d rather be your mother than your renter, Michelle. That’s all it is.”
“We made a place for you!”
“You did. I saw the work in it.”
“I told the daycare we might be pulling Sadie out. I told my boss I might be able to pick up Fridays.”
“I didn’t know that.”
