I opened my banking application.
I transferred exactly fifteen thousand dollars into my individual savings account.
Then I sent Jared a message.
I’ve withdrawn my half of the emergency fund.
Your fifteen thousand remains untouched.
The penthouse belongs to you now, so the expenses belong to you.
My phone rang almost immediately.
“Mom, what the hell?”
I held the phone away from my ear.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Why did you move that money?”
“Because it’s mine.”
“Vanessa says you emptied the emergency account.”
“Vanessa is mistaken.”
“We have expenses.”
“So do I.”
“Mom, you’re living in a cabin!”
I looked around the magnificent kitchen.
“Yes,” I said.
“I am.”
“Then you don’t understand what we’re dealing with.
The HOA is thirty-five hundred a month.
There’s insurance, property tax, assessments—”
“Did you read your father’s letter?”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“His letter.
The one Eleanor gave you.”
