“You actually changed them? Helen, you’re becoming impossible.”
I opened the interior door but left the screen door closed.
“Good morning, Paige.”
“What’s this supposed to accomplish?”
“Privacy.”
She raised a shopping bag containing shelf labels.
“I was going to organize the pantry.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Her smile vanished.
“Ben’s going to be furious.”
“Then Ben can call me.”
“He already gave notice on our lease.
You can’t keep us out forever.”
There it was.
The truth she had been avoiding for months.
I looked at her through the screen.
“You gave notice after I specifically told you that you couldn’t move here?”
She lifted her chin.
“We thought you’d calm down once you saw how much sense it made.”
My phone rang before I could respond.
Ben’s name appeared on the screen.
“Mom,” he said without greeting, “Paige says you changed the locks.
Please tell me you haven’t signed anything.”
I looked past her shoulder.
A large white moving van had turned onto our street.
“No, Ben,” I replied.
“I didn’t do something crazy.
I did something you should have believed me capable of doing.”
The van pulled up beside the driveway.
Two movers got out.
Paige turned toward them.
“What are they doing here?”
“Moving my furniture.”
She looked back at me.
“Where?”
“To my new cottage.”
She gave a short, relieved laugh.
“Fine.
Then we’ll look after this place while you’re gone.”
“No, Paige.”
I opened the screen door and stepped onto the porch.
“The house is sold.
The closing is at three this afternoon.”
She stared at me.
For several seconds, all I could hear was the low rumble of the moving truck’s engine.
Then she took out her phone.
Ben arrived twenty-three minutes later.
He hurried up the driveway with his shirt untucked and his car keys still in his hand.
“Mom, tell me this isn’t true.”
“Come inside.”
He followed me into the kitchen.
Several sealed boxes stood against the wall.
The drawers were empty, the curtains had been taken down, and Paul’s old clock was wrapped in a towel on the table.
Ben looked at the boxes as if they were evidence of a crime.
“When did you sell it?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“To whom?”
“A family who made a fair offer and completed the purchase process.”
“Without telling us?”
“I told you that you couldn’t move here.
You refused to believe me.”
He dragged his hands down his face.
“Our lease ends in twelve days.”
“I know.”
“We already paid deposits for furniture.”
“I didn’t order that furniture.”
Paige came through the doorway.
“You can’t do this! That house was supposed to stay in the family!”
“Paul and I bought this house together,” I said.
“He left it to me.
It was never promised to you.”
Ben lowered himself into a chair.
“We thought it would help everyone.
We could save for Lucy’s education.
You’d be somewhere with more services.
We’d keep the house in the family.”
“What about what I wanted?”
Neither of them answered.
I went to my desk, found the message I’d sent Ben, and showed him his reply.
Okay, Mom.
We understand.
“Those were your words,” I said.
Ben looked down.
“I thought you’d change your mind.”
Paige folded her arms.
“Maybe she isn’t thinking clearly.
