“For how long?”
“It would make sense to spend part of the summer here.
My parents will need help settling in, and Kendra has the children.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You told me we were coming on weekends.”
“That was before Dad’s back got worse.”
“You said weekends.”
“Things changed.”
“And you were going to tell me when?”
Laurel gave him the same answer he had apparently planned to give me.
“When the details were settled.”
I pushed the phone back across the table.
There it was: the whole mechanism of entitlement.
Each person told the next person only enough to keep the plan moving.
Nobody wanted to be the one who asked me directly, because a direct question could receive a direct no.
Laurel began pacing between the table and the open windows.
“This sale still doesn’t solve anything.
Mom and Dad accepted an offer on their place because they believed they had somewhere to go.”
“Who gave them that belief?”
“We did.”
“Then you will have to correct it.”
“Kendra already gave notice.”
“On whose authority?”
“Daniel’s.”
I looked at my son.
He stared down at the wet ring his water glass had left on the oak table.
“I thought you would say yes,” he whispered.
“You thought asking after you had made the promise would force me to say yes.”
He did not deny it.
Laurel picked up her phone.
“I’m calling Kendra.”
“Do that.”
She looked surprised.
“You want me to?”
“I want you to explain exactly what happened.”
Laurel made the call and put it on speaker.
Kendra answered on the fourth ring, children shouting faintly in the background.
“Hey,” she said.
“Did Margaret like the plan?”
Laurel’s mouth opened, but no words came.
I answered instead.
“Kendra, this is Margaret.
I was told about the plan for the first time tonight.”
The background noise seemed to vanish.
“What?”
“I never offered my home.
I never agreed to host anyone.
The house has also been sold, and I must leave by July first.”
There was a long pause.
Then Kendra said, “Laurel told me you were relieved.
She said you hated being here alone.”
Daniel turned toward his wife.
Laurel’s face flushed.
“I said I thought she might be relieved.”
“No,” Kendra replied.
“You said she was grateful Daniel had taken charge.”
