Kevin continued.
“And that isn’t the worst part.”
To be continued…
What would you have done if your own family replaced you on a vacation you paid for?
CHAPTER 3 — THEY HAD BEEN PLANNING MY FUTURE WITHOUT ME
I found an empty row of chairs near baggage claim.
“Say that again.”
Kevin remained silent.
“Kevin.”
He finally spoke.
“Jessica told Linda that after you moved somewhere smaller, we’d probably take the Evanston house.”
My home.
The house my husband and I had purchased thirty-two years earlier.
The home where Kevin had spent his teenage years.
The home where I had held my husband’s hand while cancer reduced him to a man I barely recognized.
The home where Tyler and Emma had their own drawer filled with crayons, pajamas, and plastic dinosaurs.
I felt something colder than anger.
“When exactly am I moving somewhere smaller?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said Jessica told her mother I was.”
“I know.”
“Did you correct her?”
Silence.
That silence answered me.
“Kevin.”
“She was talking about the future.”
“My future.”
“I know.”
“Did you correct her?”
“No.”
There it was.
A single word.
Small enough to whisper.
Large enough to destroy whatever excuses remained.
“Why?”
“Mom, can we talk about this later?”
“No.”
“Our flight is boarding.”
“Then miss it.”
He exhaled sharply.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Neither did Jessica when she said I was too old for Hawaii, I assume.”
“Mom—”
“How long have you two been discussing my house?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How long?”
“Maybe a year.”
I closed my eyes.
A year.
For a year, my son and daughter-in-law had been discussing where I would live when they eventually decided my home was too much for me.
Nobody had asked whether I wanted to leave.
Nobody had asked whether I was struggling.
I was sixty-seven years old.
I still drove.
Still traveled.
Still consulted twice a month at the hospital.
Still walked four miles along the lake three mornings a week.
Apparently I had become elderly enough to relocate but not elderly enough for them to stop accepting my money.
“Mom, listen.”
“I am listening.”
“Jessica worries about you being alone in that house.”
“She has an interesting way of expressing concern.”
“She thinks eventually—”
“I don’t care what Jessica thinks eventually.”
Another boarding announcement sounded in the distance.
Kevin said, “I have to go.”
“Yes.”
“Can we fix this when we get back?”
I looked at the suitcase beside me.
“That depends on what you think needs fixing.”
