“I know.”
Upstairs, a door closed hard enough for us to hear it.
Caleb glanced toward the ceiling.
“She’s furious.”
“She’s allowed to be.”
“She thinks you’re trying to force us out.”
“I’m forcing nobody out.
I’m ending a subsidy that had no ending date.
You two can decide what works for you.”
He was quiet for a while.
Then he picked up the lease notice again.
“Is sixteen hundred really what you want?”
“What I want is clarity.
The amount is fair for the apartment and still less than comparable places nearby.
But the bigger change is that upstairs becomes your home and downstairs becomes mine.
No walking in.
No opening my refrigerator.
No leaving laundry here.
No assuming I’m available.”
Caleb gave a tired half smile.
“You really hated the laundry thing, didn’t you?”
“Your wife once left three baskets in my hallway for four days.”
He actually laughed.
Then he stopped, because the situation wasn’t funny enough yet.
That evening, Victoria came downstairs.
She knocked.
I noticed.
When I opened the door, she was holding both documents: my lease notice and her child-care agreement.
“Can I come in?”
It was the first time I could remember her asking.
“Yes.”
She entered, but she remained standing.
“Caleb says you’re serious.”
“I am.”
“So because I made a schedule, you’re suddenly our landlord?”
“I’ve always been your landlord.
We just avoided using the word.”
Her jaw tightened.
“Family shouldn’t treat family like tenants.”
I looked at the paper in her hand.
“Family shouldn’t treat family like unpaid employees either.”
She had no answer ready for that.
I could see her searching for one.
“We were trying to make things easier,” she said finally.
“For whom?”
“For everyone.”
“Twenty-five hours of my time disappeared from my week.
Which part was easier for me?”
“You love spending time with him.”
“I do.
Love is not a time card.”
She looked toward the living room, toward the new lock visible on the front door.
“You made us feel like strangers.”
“No.
I made a door behave like a door.”
Her eyes flashed.
