“Let’s see how well you manage,” she said. “You can’t even use online banking without Daniel helping you.”
My older grandson Ethan turned to her, stunned.
“Mom—”
She didn’t even look at him.
Daniel pointed toward the hallway.
“You have until New Year’s. Either start paying your share, or find somewhere else to put on this little performance.”
My sister Linda opened her mouth to defend me.
I raised one finger, gently, and she stopped.
Then I pushed my chair back.
The legs scraped across the hardwood, and every head turned.
They expected tears.
They expected an old woman to beg her son not to put her out of the home where she raised him.
I walked to the coat closet instead.
I lifted my wool coat off its hook and slid one hand into the pocket.
My fingers closed around a small brass key.
Not the key to that house.
I turned back to the table and opened my palm just enough for the candlelight to catch it.
“I won’t wait until New Year’s,” I said.
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“I’m leaving tonight.”
Melissa burst out laughing and looked around the table, waiting for someone to join her.
Nobody did.
“With what?” she said. “Your pension check?”
I closed my hand around the key and looked straight at my son.
Twenty-two people still at that table.
One door still open.
And a key none of them had ever seen before.
What was I planning to take with me?
👇
