YOU WANTED YOUR OWN LIFE. HERE IT IS.
I looked at Barbara.
“This is your brilliant plan?”
“First part.”
“There’s more?”
She locked her car and pointed toward a side street.
He stepped outside, stopped, then shouted loudly enough to wake half the block.
“Much more. Now we wait quietly.”
Twenty minutes later, his front door opened.
He stepped outside, stopped, then shouted loudly enough to wake half the block.
“Oh my God! Who did this?”
Tessa appeared behind him wearing pink slippers.
Eric grabbed Barbara’s note.
That was when Barbara opened our car door and stepped out.
“My mother.”
Tessa picked up a trophy.
“Why is your childhood here?”
“I don’t know.”
He dragged a box toward the doorway.
That was when Barbara opened our car door and stepped out.
“You wanted your own life. I’m done storing it for you.”
“Morning,” she called.
Eric froze.
“Mom?”
Barbara walked toward him without raising her voice.
“You wanted your own life. I’m done storing it for you.”
Eric stared at her.
She told him she was finished making his adult life convenient while he ignored his child.
“You’re angry because Claire complained?”
Barbara smiled.
“No. Keep listening, Eric.”
She told him she was finished making his adult life convenient while he ignored his child.
Eric scoffed.
“So you’re dumping junk here?”
Barbara pulled an envelope from her purse.
Barbara looked past him toward the front door.
“The boxes are the easy part.”
Tessa stopped smiling.
Eric crossed his arms.
“What does that mean?”
Barbara pulled an envelope from her purse.
“What housing arrangement?”
“I’m giving you formal notice that our housing arrangement is changing.”
He blinked.
“What housing arrangement?” Tessa asked.
Barbara looked directly at her.
“The one where Eric rents this house from me for far less than it’s worth.”
