Chapter 5: What He Said Next
"You want to talk about money?" Derek's voice had changed.
The ease was gone.
"Fine.
Let's talk about money."
He pushed off from the counter and pulled out the chair across from me.
He sat down hard, like he'd made a decision.
"Casey." He looked at her.
"You want to tell your mother, or should I?"
Casey's face went still.
"Derek.
Don't."
"Tell me what?" I said.
"Don't." Casey's voice was low and sharp.
"This is not the same thing."
"It's exactly the same thing." Derek turned back to me.
"You want to talk about what this house is worth and who paid for what?
Let's talk about the $23,000 your daughter borrowed from my parents two years ago.
Before the baby.
Before any of this."
The room shifted.
I looked at Casey.
She wasn't looking at me.
"Casey."
"It was a loan," she said quietly.
"We were going to pay it back."
"We haven't paid back a cent," Derek said.
"Not one cent in two years.
And my mother asks me about it every three months and I have to sit there and tell her we're working on it." He leaned forward.
"So yes, Mary.
I charged you $640.
And maybe I shouldn't have done it that way.
But don't come in here with your paperwork and act like you're the only one keeping score, because you're not."
I sat with that for a moment.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I said to Casey.
She finally looked up.
Her eyes were wet.
"Because I was ashamed.
We had a gap — Derek's hours got cut, and we needed it, and his parents offered, and I thought we'd pay it back before anyone had to know."
"My mother knows," Derek said.
"She's known for two years."
"Derek, stop." Casey's voice cracked.
"Just stop."
"No." He stood up.
"I'm tired of being the villain here.
I handled the bill wrong, fine.
I'll admit that.
But I am not the only one in this family who has made a mistake, and I'm not going to sit here while your mother looks at me like I'm some kind of criminal."
He walked out of the kitchen.
A door down the hall closed — not slammed, but firmly.
The baby woke up at the sound and began to cry.
Casey stood and swayed gently, shushing him, her face turned away from me.
"Casey," I said softly.
"I'm sorry, Mom." She kept her back to me.
"I'm sorry you found out like this."
"How much of it is true?"
She turned around.
Her son was pressed against her chest, still fussing.
"All of it," she said.
"All of it is true."
I stood up from the table.
I didn't pick up my documents.
I walked to my daughter and put my hand on her back, and she leaned into me the way she used to when she was small and something had gone wrong at school.
"Why didn't you come to me?" I said.
"Because you'd already done so much." Her voice broke on the last word.
"You paid off the mortgage.
You drove four hours every time we needed you.
I couldn't ask for more."
"You could have."
"I know." She pulled back and looked at me.
"I know that now."
We stood there in the kitchen, the baby quieting between us.
Down the hall, I could hear Derek.
Not his words — just the low sound of his voice.
He was on the phone.
I didn't know who he was calling.
May you like
But the way Casey's eyes moved toward the hallway told me she had a guess.
And from the look on her face, it wasn't a good one.
