“Show me what happened to the payments.”
Amanda’s expression hardened.
“I don’t keep receipts for every personal decision.”
“They were not personal decisions.
That was my mother’s support.”
“You transferred the money to me.”
“To pass along.”
“That was your assumption.”
The sentence changed the room.
Until then, Amanda had tried to present herself as misunderstood.
With those four words, she revealed that she believed the transfer itself gave her ownership.
Daniel heard it too.
“My assumption?” he repeated.
Amanda looked away.
He scrolled upward through the payment history.
Month after month appeared beneath his thumb, each transfer identical, each one sent on the same date.
“I told you exactly what this money was for.”
“You told me you wanted your mother comfortable.”
“Yes.”
“And I decided that giving her five thousand dollars in cash every month was not responsible.”
“So what did you give her?”
Amanda said nothing.
Daniel waited.
The clock above the mantel kept ticking.
“What did you give her?” he asked again.
“I called.”
I looked up.
She turned toward me.
“I checked on you.”
“You called to tell me not to bother Daniel,” I said.
“I was protecting his focus.
He had investors, contractors and deadlines.
You know how much pressure he was under.”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“Do not use my work to justify this.”
Amanda crossed her arms.
“Your mother survived before the payments.”
I saw the moment Daniel stopped searching for an innocent explanation.
It was not dramatic.
He did not shout or throw the phone.
His shoulders simply lowered, and something warm disappeared from his face.
He walked to the small table beside my chair and picked up the heating company’s estimate.
I had folded it twice and tucked it beneath the medical letters because seeing the amount frightened me.
He opened it.
“This repair is less than one monthly payment.”
“I didn’t know about the furnace,” Amanda said.
“You told me you spoke to her every week.”
“She never told me.”
I stared at her.
“I told you in November.”
Amanda blinked.
I remembered the conversation clearly because I had been sitting in that same chair with my coat on inside the house.
I had called her after the repairman left.
I told her the furnace needed a part I could not afford.
I asked whether Daniel might lend me the money and let me repay him slowly.
Amanda had become very quiet.
