On Saturday morning, my sister Rachel took Noah to the park.
And Mark asked his mother to come into the kitchen.
I made a pot of coffee. I poured three mugs. I set them on the table.
Mark laid the apartment listing down in front of Diane.
She barely glanced at it.
“I don’t need that,” she said. “I have a home. Here.”
“We agreed on six weeks, Diane,” I said. “This apartment is available the day those six weeks are up.”
Diane didn’t look at me. She looked at her son.
“Are you really going to make me leave, Mark?”
He took a long breath.
And I waited.
I waited for him to look over at me. To ask me with his eyes if I could manage just a little bit longer.
He didn’t look at me.
“Mom,” Mark said. “I told you that you could stay here.”
Diane nodded. “Exactly.”
“I shouldn’t have done that without asking Claire first.”
Diane stared at him.
“So now I’m supposed to pay for your mistake?”
“No,” Mark said. “I’ll cover the deposit. And the first month’s rent. And I’ll help you move every single box. But I can’t keep the promise I made about all of us living here. I didn’t have the right to make it.”
There was a long pause.
Then Diane tried one more thing.
“I’ll keep watching Noah,” she said. “If you let me stay. Same as before. Tuesdays and Thursdays. You won’t need that daycare.”
I looked down at the legal pad. At the daycare fee written right next to the rent.
I could still hear Noah’s voice on the porch. Grandma says the zoo is closed.
Mark didn’t answer right away.
The silence made me turn and look at him.
I could almost hear it coming. Claire, maybe we should think about this.
I pressed my lips together. Hard. So I wouldn’t fill the silence for him.
He met my eyes.
Then he looked back at his mother.
“No, Mom,” he said. “We’ve already set up the early shifts. I’m doing the pickups.”
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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