“No,” she whispered.
“I didn’t want you gone.”
“Then why did you stand there?”
“Because Derek said if you saw the notices, you’d accuse him.
Lena said you already acted like you owned the house because you paid so much.
They said the fighting would destroy what was left of the family.”
I stared out the hotel window at cars moving through the intersection below.
“So you let them remove me instead.”
Mom cried harder.
“Yes.”
I loved her.
But love did not erase that answer.
I asked whether she would speak to Paul and authorize him to review the records with her.
She hesitated.
Then she said yes.
An hour later, Lena called.
This time I answered.
Her voice was completely different from the porch.
“Audrey, can we meet?”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“No.
Tell me.”
She exhaled sharply.
“The company thing.
We saw the announcement.”
There it was.
Not I’m sorry I threw you out.
Not Mom told me about the documents.
The company thing.
“You changed my locks before you knew about that,” I said.
“I know, and emotions were high.”
“Derek was holding a drill.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“It means somebody planned it.”
She went quiet.
Then Derek’s voice appeared in the background.
“Ask her if she can help with the house.”
Lena covered the phone too late.
I nearly laughed.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Lena.”
Another pause.
“We have some financial pressure.”
“We?”
“Derek says it’s temporary.”
I looked at my mother’s letter on the bed.
“Bring Derek to Paul Whitaker’s office at four.”
“Why your lawyer?”
“Because if this is only temporary financial pressure, he should have no problem explaining it.”
Derek did have a problem explaining it.
At four fifteen, he entered Paul’s conference room wearing the same gray polo shirt from the porch.
Lena followed him.
Mom was already seated beside me.
She looked smaller than she had the day before, but for the first time in months, there was a folder directly in front of her and her own hand resting on top of it.
