I came in and Mom was there loading the dishwasher. Leigh, Mom’s best friend and Brad’s mother, sat at the kitchen table.
“Hey, Leigh.” I set the food down. “I didn’t know you were here or I would have gotten you something.”
She waved me off from her chair at the table, bracelets clinking on her wrist. “I’ve got a Bumble date in a half an hour. Let him buy me food.”
I pulled my face back. “A date? What happened to George?”
“He’s gone, Justin. May God rest his soul.”
I blinked at her. “Your boyfriend died?”
“He’s dead to me.”
Mom laughed and I shook my head at my honorary aunt.
Leigh was a character. Forty-eight like Mom, but her polar opposite in every way. She’d been married four times and had been engaged twice as many times as that. Leigh’s single periods were always a lot of fun for the family. Highly entertaining.
I could hear Chelsea running down the stairs. I pulled out her food right as my little sister tore into the room.
“Jussin!” She hugged my legs for a split second, then launched off me and climbed into a chair. “Yay!” she squealed, seeing the Happy Meal.
I started setting her up, opening her box of nuggets and peeling the top off the sweet-and-sour sauce.
Mom looked up from loading the dishwasher right as I was putting a straw into Chelsea’s apple juice. She made a face. “Justin, why did you get drinks? We have juice here, you didn’t need to waste the money.”
“If I don’t get her the Happy Meal, she won’t get the toy.”
My tone came off drier than I intended. Mom ignored it.
“I got you a chicken sandwich,” I said to Mom. “Where’s Sarah?” I asked, looking around.
Mom dried her hands on a kitchen towel and sat down at the table next to Leigh. “She’s in her room. You’re not eating?” she asked, noticing I didn’t have anything in front of me.
“No, I gotta go soon,” I said. “I need to walk Brad.”
Leigh rolled her eyes. “Still on that, huh? Christine, tell your son to rename his dog, please.”
“He’s a grown man,” Mom said, tiredly. “I can’t tell him to do anything.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking long and hard about it and you’re right, Leigh, I’m being unreasonable,” I said, setting out Chelsea’s fries. “If Brad agrees to pay the seven thousand dollars he intended to stiff me, I’ll rename the dog.”
Leigh made an exasperated noise. “Seven thousand—you got a new apartment, Justin. Your rent is lower than before, how is it that he owes you seven thousand dollars?”
“It’s for pain and suffering now.”
Leigh cackled, despite herself.
“So how did he do?” Leigh asked, nodding at Alex. She was still tittering.
“He did great,” I said.
Alex beamed, shoving fries in his mouth.
“Thanks for taking him,” Mom said, rubbing her wrist.
Leigh eyed her. “How’s work?” she asked.
Mom gave a one-shoulder shrug. “It’s okay. I did four houses yesterday. The Klein house has three sets of bunk beds. It’s hard to make them. Wears me out. But I’m taking as many jobs as I can before I go.”
Before I go.
My jaw ticced and I had to look away from her.
Mom cleaned houses now.
There was nothing wrong with being a housekeeper. What made me upset was why she was a housekeeper.
She had a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She’d been a CFO. But her degree and the last twelve years at her old company were worthless now. She wouldn’t get jobs like that again. The repercussions for what she’d done had already begun, and she hadn’t even left yet.
My mother was going to prison.
My brain just couldn’t wrap around it, it didn’t feel real. But it was real. It was coming. And my whole life was about to be turned upside down so that everyone else’s life could stay the same. In a few weeks, I was taking custody of my siblings. I had to move back in here. Give up my apartment—not that it was much to give up, but still.
If I didn’t, Chelsea, Alex, and Sarah would have to go with Leigh. They’d have to change schools, leave the neighborhood they’d grown up in. It was bad enough they lost their dad, now they were losing their mom too. I couldn’t let the rest of their world disintegrate. And I couldn’t even contemplate what this meant for me and my life because thinking about it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.
I got up. “I gotta get going,” I said flatly. “Want me to run this up to Sarah?” I nodded at the bag of food for my sister.
“Yeah, can you?” Mom said.
