Chương 5
“Yes.”
“How much was it?”
“Thirty-four hundred a month.”
I almost understood.
Almost.
“My mortgage and association dues are not free.”
“I know.”
“Did Melissa expect to pay me rent?”
Jason looked down again.
That was enough.
“How long was ‘a few weeks’ supposed to be?”
He rubbed his palms together.
“She told me until spring.”
For a moment, even the pain disappeared.
“Spring.”
“She said you’d probably stay with Patricia while you recovered and then maybe go back to your old apartment until the lease ended.”
“My apartment lease ends in January.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“And after January?”
“She said you might decide the condo was too much.”
“Too much what?”
“I don’t know.”
I stood before my body was ready.
The lobby tilted slightly.
Jason reached toward me, but I stepped away from him.
Through the glass, Melissa was already walking toward the entrance.
I watched my sister approach the door and understood, finally, why she had never asked permission.
As far as she was concerned, permission had already been manufactured somewhere between what she told Jason, what she told the building, and whatever she had told our mother.
Melissa came inside and looked from Jason to me.
“What did you tell her?”
Jason stood.
“The truth.”
Her face hardened.
“Which truth?”
And that question, more than anything else she had said that morning, told me there was still another one.
Melissa looked at Jason as if she could force him to retract the question simply by refusing to answer it.
He waited.
She folded her arms.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to have this conversation in a lobby.”
“Then where did you want to have it?”
“Not here.”
“After we moved in?”
Her eyes flicked toward me.
“Can we not do this in front of Emily?”
I almost laughed.
“You brought a truck to my house.”
“I know where we are.”
“Apparently that’s one of the few things we agree on.”
Jason rubbed his forehead.
“Mel, did Patricia actually tell you we could live here?”
Melissa’s mouth tightened.
“She said Emily shouldn’t be alone after surgery.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“She said it made sense for Emily to stay with her.”
“That still wasn’t the question.”
Melissa looked toward the concierge desk, where Daniel was deliberately studying something on a monitor.
Her voice dropped.
“Mom agreed it would be better for everyone.”
I felt the answer before I fully understood it.
“Did she say you could move into my condo?”
Melissa stared at me.
“Not in those exact words.”
Jason let out a breath and walked several steps away.
He stopped near the windows with both hands on his hips.
I sat down again because my abdomen had begun throbbing in time with my heartbeat.
“What exact words did she use?”
Melissa gave me an irritated look.
“I don’t have a transcript.”
“You seem to have built a housing plan around them.”
“She said she’d work on you.”
That sounded like Mom.
Not approval.
Not ownership.
Pressure.
I looked at Jason.
He was still facing the windows.
“Did Melissa tell you Mom had already approved it?”
“Yes.”
Melissa snapped her head toward him.
“Oh, please.”
“You did.”
“I said Patricia thought it was a good idea.”
“You said, ‘Mom handled Emily.’”
“That means the same thing.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“It does in my family.”
Jason turned around.
“Well, I’m beginning to see the problem with that.”
Melissa’s expression changed.
For the first time that morning, she looked less angry than frightened.
“You’re really going to stand there and take her side?”
“I’m not taking anybody’s side.”
“That is what people say while taking somebody’s side.”
He rubbed his eyes.
“I drove a rented truck here at seven in the morning because you told me we had permission to move in.”
“We did.”
“No, we didn’t.”
“We would have if she weren’t acting like this.”
I stared at her.
There it was again.
Permission as something inevitable.
My refusal was not an answer to Melissa.
It was a temporary defect in the process.
Daniel approached us before I could respond.
“The moving company needs a decision.”
Melissa turned toward him.
“We’re moving.”
“No,” Daniel said.
She blinked.
He remained polite.
“There is no authorized move into Unit 407 today.”
“We can carry things through the regular elevator.”
“No.”
“We don’t need your service elevator.”
“This isn’t an elevator issue.”
“Then what is it?”
“You do not have the owner’s permission to establish occupancy.”
Melissa pointed at me.
“She’s my sister.”
Daniel nodded once.
“That does not alter the access authorization.”
“You people are unbelievable.”
The security supervisor looked up at that but stayed where he was.
Daniel continued.
“The truck can remain in the loading lane for another ten minutes while you decide where it’s going next.”
“And if we don’t?”
“It will need to leave.”
Melissa stared at him.
Then she looked at me.
I could almost see her searching for the version of me who would become embarrassed enough to surrender.
That version was still there.
She was sitting in the same chair.
She hated the concierge hearing this.
She hated Daniel hearing this.
She hated knowing Sophie could see through the glass.
She wanted to say yes just to end the scene.
I pressed my palm against the surgical binder beneath my sweater.
“No.”
Melissa’s nostrils flared.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I know.”
Jason made a small sound that might have been a laugh.
Melissa turned on him.
“Glad somebody’s having fun.”
“I’m not.”
“You look like it.”
“I’m exhausted.”
“So am I.”
“Then stop making this harder.”
Her face changed again.
“You think I made this hard?”
“You canceled the townhouse.”
“We couldn’t afford it.”
“We could.”
“For how long?”
“We went over the numbers.”
“You went over the numbers.”
“You were sitting at the table.”
“And I told you they didn’t work.”
Jason shook his head.
“They worked.”
“Barely.”
May you like
“Barely is still working.”
“Until the car needs repairs, or Caleb needs braces, or your hours get cut again.”
