Who would stay with Emily when school closed?
Who would cook three nights a week?
Who would buy groceries when Rebecca forgot?
Who would sit with the children so Daniel and Rebecca could go to dinner?
I wondered whether he was thinking about losing his mother or losing the life his mother had made easier.
Perhaps both.
That was the hardest possibility of all.
People were rarely only one thing.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something we need to talk about when I get home.”
“What?”
“The house.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What about it?”
“Just… the money you gave us when we bought it.”
“What about the money?”
He hesitated.
“Rebecca and I don’t remember it the same way you do.”
My stomach turned cold.
“How do you think I remember it?”
“As a loan.”
“It was a loan.”
Daniel was quiet.
“Rebecca thought it was a gift.”
I closed my eyes.
Eighty-five thousand dollars.
The amount I had transferred after selling my Oak Park apartment.
Daniel had said they would repay me when their finances improved.
At least, that was what I remembered.
“Daniel, you told me—”
“I know what I said.”
“Then what are we discussing?”
