“I’m saying no,” I said.
Nobody moved.
Ezoic
“You’re not moving into my house,” I said. “Not this week. Not ever. Not like this.”
Ezoic
I took a breath.
“But I’m not going to let you be homeless either,” I said.
My mother looked up.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I said.
I sat up straight. The way I used to sit in board meetings. The way I sat across from men twice my age who called me sweetheart.
“You’re going to Pelican Bay,” I said. “This morning. Two nights. Paid. The kids are going to swim in the waterpark and eat pancakes and go to the pirate ship.”
I looked at Melissa.
“And while they’re doing that,” I said, “you and Ben and Mom and Dad are going to meet with Carolyn. My attorney. On a video call. Tomorrow at ten. She’s going to look at Dad’s debts. The forty thousand on the credit card. The fraud with the man from church. The FBI case. She’s going to tell you what your options are.”
