Chương 12
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
His voice rose for the first time.
Daniel looked over.
Jason noticed and lowered it immediately.
“You let me stand here thinking we had seven hundred dollars.”
“I didn’t remember the balance.”
“How do you not remember?”
“Because I’m drowning.”
He stared at her.
Melissa stood.
“I move money there so automatic payments don’t take everything.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you know which bills are coming.”
“Apparently I don’t.”
“You don’t handle them.”
“Because you said you did.”
“I do.”
He laughed again.
“No.”
Melissa’s face hardened.
“Yes, I do.”
“You hide them.”
“I manage them.”
“You hide them.”
She stepped closer.
“You want to know what happens when I show you every bill?”
“Yes.”
“You panic.”
“I have a right to panic.”
“You stop sleeping.”
“I have a right to stop sleeping.”
“You start talking about selling the van and pulling Sophie out of dance and telling the boys we can’t do anything.”
“Maybe we can’t.”
“That’s why I don’t tell you.”
Jason stared at her.
There was something almost peaceful in his expression now.
Not forgiveness.
Recognition.
“You decided I couldn’t handle our life.”
“I decided somebody had to.”
“And you were doing such a good job.”
She recoiled.
He regretted it immediately.
I saw it.
He looked away and rubbed his mouth.
“Sorry.”
Melissa gave him a humorless smile.
“No, you’re not.”
“I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
“But you meant it.”
“Yes.”
They stood facing each other in the lobby while I tried not to feel like an intruder in my own crisis.
Finally I said, “How much is in the other account?”
Melissa picked up her phone.
“One thousand six hundred and forty.”
Jason closed his eyes.
“So we have about twenty-three hundred.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not twenty-eight.”
“No.”
“But it’s not seven hundred.”
“No.”
He sat down.
For the first time that morning, he looked genuinely relieved.
Not happy.
Just relieved to have a number.
Melissa sat across from him.
Neither looked at the other.
I lowered myself into the third chair.
“So what happens now?”
Jason rubbed his hands together.
“We need somewhere to sleep tonight.”
Melissa nodded.
“The mover has the furniture.”
“We can get a hotel.”
“For how long?”
“A few nights.”
“And after that?”
“I don’t know.”
The phrase had moved from Melissa to Jason.
Nobody liked it better coming from him.
I looked at my phone.
Mom had texted twice.
The first message said the kids were eating pancakes.
The second said Sophie was asking what was going on.
I showed the messages to Melissa.
Her eyes filled.
“Of course she is.”
“Does she know anything?”
“Not about the money.”
“About moving here?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Melissa looked ashamed.
“She thought we were moving in.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“What did you tell her?”
“That Aunt Emily had room for us for a while.”
“Did you say I invited you?”
“No.”
That mattered to me more than I wanted it to.
“What did she think when I didn’t come outside?”
“I don’t know.”
Jason spoke quietly.
“She thought Emily was too sick.”
I looked at him.
He swallowed.
“That’s what I told them this morning.”
I felt the shame arrive before the anger.
Not because I had done anything wrong.
Because four children had been placed inside an adult lie and given explanations shaped around my surgery.
Melissa wiped her eyes.
“I’ll talk to them.”
“You both should,” I said.
Jason nodded.
“We will.”
“When?”
“As soon as we figure out where we’re going.”
Melissa looked at him.
“We can call the townhouse.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“The Redmond place.”
“You withdrew.”
“I know.”
“Yesterday.”
“I know.”
“They probably offered it to someone else.”
“Maybe not.”
Jason took out his phone.
Melissa reached for his wrist.
“Let me call.”
He looked at her hand.
She slowly removed it.
“I canceled it,” she said.
“I should fix it.”
He thought about that.
Then handed her the phone.
She did not use his.
She took out her own and walked toward the far end of the lobby.
I watched her search for the number.
Her shoulders rose with a deep breath before she called.
Jason leaned back.
“You need to go upstairs.”
“I’m okay.”
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
He stared at the ceiling for a moment.
“I really am sorry.”
“You’ve said that.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t say it again yet.”
He looked at me.
“Okay.”
“I’m angry at you too.”
“That seems fair.”
“You never called.”
“No.”
“You were going to move six people into my home based on what Melissa told you.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t think you needed to hear it from me.”
“I thought Patricia had some ownership.”
“Because Melissa told you.”
“Yes.”
“And that was enough.”
“No.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“It shouldn’t have been.”
I studied him.
Jason had been in my family for thirteen years.
He had assembled furniture for Mom, changed my tire once on I-405, brought too much beer to every summer barbecue, and forgotten my birthday almost every year.
I knew his habits.
I did not know him very well.
“Why didn’t you question it?”
He looked toward Melissa.
“I was tired.”
“That isn’t much of an excuse.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“I’d spent three months looking at rentals.”
“Every place was too expensive or too small or wanted more up front than we had.”
“Then Melissa said Patricia had this idea.”
“She showed me the listing.”
“She said your mom had helped with the purchase and wanted it available for family.”
“It sounded weird.”
I waited.
“But convenient.”
“Yes.”
There it was.
He gave me a miserable smile.
“Convenient makes weird easier to believe.”
I nodded.
That, at least, sounded true.
Across the lobby, Melissa was speaking into the phone.
May you like
Her voice was polite in the way it became when she needed something from a stranger.
“Yes, I understand.”
