The short drive to both doctors.
The lower rent.
The security deposit I had already paid.
With each detail, her face collapsed a little more.
“That was for us?” she whispered.
“It was.”
Austin recovered first.
“Good.
Then give her the key, turn the cards back on, and stop this performance.”
My mother looked at him as though she finally heard what he sounded like.
I slid the lease back into the folder.
“I changed it this morning.
The house is mine.”
Austin’s composure cracked.
“You don’t need another house.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“You’re stealing it from our parents.”
“You cannot steal something you paid for, qualified for, and signed for yourself,” Mr.
Spencer said from the phone.
Austin glared at the device.
“Stay out of this.”
“I would be delighted to,” Mr.
Spencer replied.
“But you tried to make yourself my tenant without qualifying, and now you are standing outside my guarantor’s building demanding money.
So I am already in it.”
My mother touched Austin’s arm.
“Why did you apply for the house without telling us?”
He pulled away.
“Because Daniela was acting like she owned everything.”
“She was paying for everything,” Christina said quietly.
Austin spun toward her.
“You said she would never cut us off.”
“I said she never had before.”
Their argument began as a whisper and became sharp within seconds.
Austin accused Christina of using the cards too often.
Christina accused him of promising his debts were handled.
My mother stood between them, hearing pieces of a financial life they had apparently kept from her.
I listened without interrupting.
The accidental call the night before had shown me what they said when they believed I could not hear.
Now pressure was making them say the rest in front of me.
Mr.
Spencer waited until they stopped talking over each other.
“Daniela, I need to clarify the housing situation,” he said.
My mother faced the phone again.
“Yes.
Please tell her she cannot cancel our rent overnight.”
“She can cancel her payment authorization whenever she chooses,” he replied.
“The current agreement is month-to-month.
Rent is due today.
You remain responsible for it whether Daniela pays or not.”
My mother gripped her phone more tightly.
“We don’t have that amount.”
Austin cut in.
“I’ll handle it.”
Mr.
Spencer’s answer was immediate.
