Chương 5
He picked up the keys.
“What is in the bag?”
Ava’s mouth trembled.
“Just papers.”
“What papers?”
She looked at Mom.
Mom looked back at her, confused now.
Grandpa moved toward the door.
Ava stepped in front of him.
“Please don’t.”
That stopped all of us.
Grandpa’s hand closed around his cane.
“Ava.”
She swallowed hard.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but none fell.
“I was going to fix it.”
Mom’s voice went thin.
“Fix what?”
Ava looked at me.
Then at Grandpa.
Then finally at our mother.
“The loan.”
Mom went still.
“What loan?”
Ava whispered the answer.
“The one I took out in your name.”
Mom made a small sound that I had never heard from her before.
It was not a gasp.
It was more like the air had been knocked out of her without anyone touching her.
Ava stepped back from the door.
“I was going to pay it.”
Mom stared at her.
“In my name?”
Ava nodded once.
Grandpa’s expression did not change, but his grip tightened on the cane.
“How much?”
Ava looked at the floor.
“Eight thousand.”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“Eight thousand dollars?”
“I needed working capital.”
“You forged my name?”
“I didn’t forge it.”
Mom took a step toward her.
“How did you take out a loan in my name without forging something?”
“It was online.”
“That is not an answer.”
Ava’s eyes flicked toward me, then away.
“I had your information.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Mom looked suddenly unsteady.
She sat down in the chair she had refused earlier.
Her knees pressed together.
Her hands went flat against her thighs.
“What information?”
Ava swallowed.
“Your Social Security number.”
Mom’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I felt my own skin go cold.
Grandpa moved around the desk.
“Where did you get it?”
Ava hesitated.
“From the tax folder.”
Mom closed her eyes.
The tax folder lived in a filing cabinet in the hall closet.
I knew because she had asked me to retrieve old insurance papers from it once.
There were bank statements in there.
Tax returns.
Copies of identification.
The sort of things a person kept because they trusted the people living under the same roof.
Grandpa’s voice dropped.
“What else did you use?”
Ava rubbed her palms against her jeans.
“Her date of birth.”
“Address?”
“Yes.”
“Income?”
Ava did not answer.
Mom looked at her.
“What income did you put?”
“I estimated.”
“You estimated my income?”
“I knew approximately what you made.”
“You knew what I made because I showed you my pay stubs when we were applying for your apartment.”
Ava winced.
That was new to me.
“You applied for an apartment?”
Mom looked at me, then immediately looked away.
Ava said, “It fell through.”
“When?”
“June.”
I stared at her.
“You told me you were looking at studios for a client shoot.”
She crossed her arms.
“I didn’t want everybody in my business.”
Grandpa gave a quiet, humorless exhale.
“That appears to have been the one place you did not want family involved.”
Ava’s face tightened.
Mom leaned forward.
“When did you take the loan?”
“July.”
“How have I not seen it?”
Ava’s silence stretched.
Mom’s eyes narrowed.
“What did you do?”
“I changed the email.”
“What email?”
“The account email.”
Mom’s hand flew to her mouth.
“You used my name and changed the alerts?”
“I was paying it.”
“With what?”
“I made some payments.”
“With what money?”
Ava glanced toward her purse.
I understood before Mom did.
“You used Mom’s credit cards to make payments on a loan you took out in Mom’s name?”
Ava snapped, “Not all of them.”
The absurdity of that defense seemed to strike everyone at once.
Grandpa looked down at the rug.
Mom began laughing.
It was a terrible sound.
Soft.
Breathless.
Almost detached.
She pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“Not all of them.”
Ava’s anger rose in response to Mom’s collapse.
“I said I was trying to fix it.”
“You were fixing debt with more debt.”
“I had clients coming.”
“You always have clients coming.”
“That doesn’t mean they aren’t real.”
Mom looked up.
“Did you use the house address?”
Ava went quiet.
Mom’s face tightened.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you put the house down as anything?”
Ava hesitated too long.
Grandpa stepped forward.
“What did you secure the loan with?”
Ava’s lower lip trembled.
“It wasn’t supposed to be secured.”
“That was not my question.”
She looked at him.
“I listed equipment.”
“What equipment?”
“My cameras.”
“You own one camera.”
“And my computer.”
“That does not equal eight thousand dollars.”
Ava’s eyes filled.
“It also asked for business assets.”
Grandpa went still.
“What did you list?”
Ava looked toward Mom.
“I put the vehicle.”
Nobody spoke.
For one second, I did not understand which vehicle she meant.
Then every muscle in my body tightened at once.
“You put my SUV down as collateral?”
Ava shook her head fast.
“No.”
Grandpa’s voice hardened.
“Then whose?”
“Mom’s old Honda.”
Mom stared at her.
“The Honda is paid off.”
“I know.”
“You used my car as collateral for a loan I didn’t know existed?”
“I was going to remove it once the business had revenue.”
Mom stood so quickly the chair legs scraped backward.
“You do not remove collateral because you decide you are doing better.”
“I know that.”
“No, you clearly do not.”
Ava flinched.
Mom rarely yelled at her.
I had seen her defend Ava through things that would have gotten me grounded for a month.
Now something had broken through that instinct.
Maybe it was money.
Maybe it was fear.
Maybe it was the fact that Ava had not merely leaned on her this time.
She had used her.
Grandpa looked toward the door.
“Who opened the SUV?”
Ava froze again.
The forgotten alert returned to the room.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Is somebody outside?”
Grandpa asked.
Ava shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“That is not credible.”
May you like
She started crying.
Not loudly.
