PART 2
PART 3
Sarah dragged her suitcase toward the SUV.
David remained standing on the porch.
“Mom, please.”
I looked at my son.
“Please what?”
His voice dropped.
“Don’t make us leave.”
I sighed.
“I gave you a home when you needed somewhere to go. I never asked you for rent. I never asked you to repay me.”
David looked ashamed.
“I know.”
“But three days was all it took for you to decide that my kindness meant I no longer deserved boundaries.”
Sarah suddenly turned around.
“This is ridiculous! We only wanted the bigger bedroom.”
“No,” I said calmly. “You wanted control.”
She opened her mouth, but David stopped her.
“Sarah. Enough.”
For the first time, he wasn’t following her lead.
He looked at me.
“I should have defended you.”
“Yes,” I replied. “You should have.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I was afraid of losing my marriage.”
“And you almost lost your mother instead.”
The words hung in the air.
David lowered his head.
Then something unexpected happened.
He picked up Sarah’s suitcase and placed it back beside the other boxes.
“We’re leaving, Mom.”
Sarah stared at him.
“What?”
David shook his head.
“She gave us a place to stay when we had nowhere to go. We don’t get to treat her like she’s in our way.”
Sarah protested, but David didn’t argue.
He simply loaded the luggage into the SUV.
Before getting inside, he turned toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded.
“I’m not angry that you made a mistake, David. I’m disappointed that you forgot who I was.”
He wiped his eyes.
Then he drove away.
I watched the SUV disappear down the street.
For the first time in three days, my house felt like my home again.
