“We finish it.”
I made tea while Julian poured cereal and Brooke searched through a box for Mason’s favorite cup. Lily came downstairs carrying one sock, talking about a paper star she wanted to make.
I listened. I found the glue in the kitchen drawer.
Nobody asked her to carry the morning’s unhappiness.
When the children settled in the living room with paper and crayons, I asked Julian and Brooke to join me at the far end of the kitchen. Through the doorway, I could see Lily bent over her star.
“You can stay through Christmas,” I said. “On the twenty-sixth, you need to move into accommodation you arrange.”
Brooke’s chair scraped sharply.
“You’re putting us out at Christmas?”
“I’m giving you a clear departure date. You’ll need somewhere longer than two weeks.”
“Hotels are expensive.”
“So are houses.”
She looked at Julian, waiting.
He rubbed his forehead.
“Could we stay until the closing if we paid you?”
The question hurt in a new way. He thought the right figure might make six weeks of deceit easier to live with.
“No,” I said. “I need my home back.”
Brooke stood.
“The children are going to ask why Grandma doesn’t want them here.”
Julian’s head came up.
For once, I did not rush to protect him from choosing.
He looked toward the living room, where Lily was holding two pieces of paper together while Mason pressed them crookedly.
“Don’t tell them that,” he said.
Brooke turned toward him.
“Then what should I tell them?”
“That I said we could stay here without asking.”
She stared.
“And that we need our own place while we wait for the house.”
“You’re making me the problem.”
“I made promises about Mom’s time and money. Then I let you call her selfish for not keeping them.”
Brooke glanced at me.
I gave her nothing to push against. No insult. No raised voice. My hands shook, so I folded them beneath the table and waited.
Julian picked up his phone.
“I’ll find a rental.”
“And pay for it,” I said.
He nodded.
Brooke left the kitchen. A few seconds later, the guest-room door closed upstairs.
Julian remained sitting across from me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
His eyes filled, but he did not look away this time.
