Think about that, Ryan.”
He did.
Brooke did not.
“This is unbelievable,” she said.
“After everything we have going on with the build, you’re choosing now to create financial pressure.”
I almost smiled.
“Brooke, you have been under financial pressure because you’re building a house.
You solved that pressure by transferring part of it to me.”
“We never forced you to pay anything.”
“No.
You just assumed I would.”
She looked at Ryan again.
“Are you seriously going to let her talk to us like this?”
That sentence changed something.
Ryan raised his head.
“Brooke, it’s her house.”
She stared at him.
He swallowed.
“And she’s right about the bills.”
Brooke’s expression hardened.
“So now you’re taking her side?”
“I’m not taking sides.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”
Ryan picked the envelope up from the floor and finally opened it.
He scanned the pages slowly.
I watched embarrassment replace anger.
“These are really the increases?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He turned another page.
“All of this?”
“Yes.”
Brooke reached for the papers.
“Give me that.”
She read them more quickly, looking for something she could attack.
“You can’t prove every grocery increase was because of us.”
“Of course I can’t assign every tomato and every carton of milk to a person.
That’s why I didn’t ask you to reimburse six months.
I’m setting a contribution going forward.”
That stopped her.
She had been preparing to accuse me of presenting them with a huge retroactive bill.
I wasn’t.
I wanted fairness, not punishment.
Ryan put his elbows on his knees.
“Six-fifty starting next month?”
“Yes.”
“And we buy more of our own groceries?”
“That would help.”
“What about the electrical work?”
“If you need an upgrade specifically so Brooke can use the dining room as an office, we discuss the cost before anything is done.”
Brooke dropped the papers on the table.
“I am not paying to improve a house I don’t own.”
I looked at her.
“Exactly.”
Ryan shut his eyes.
Brooke realized what she’d said a second too late.
I didn’t need to answer further.
