“I can repeat it if you’d like. It’s no trouble. The money for this vacation came from selling my grandfather’s house. The house belonged to him. After he died, my father inherited it, sold it, and gave the money to me. So please explain exactly where Rachel is supposed to appear in that chain of events. If necessary, I can draw you a diagram. Sophie has plenty of pencils.”
“How can you sit there and calculate everything like this?”
“Quite easily. Counting is useful. Sometimes it’s how people manage to buy apartments.”
“You’re both selfish! You’re the most miserly people I’ve ever seen!”
“People usually call someone selfish when that person refuses to give away what belongs to them. Someone who persistently demands what belongs to somebody else is generally called something different. But I promised Daniel I wouldn’t swear in the new apartment. The walls were only painted recently.”
Margaret shot to her feet, grabbed her handbag, and headed for the hallway without saying goodbye. She closed the door with surprising care. Somehow, that deliberate gentleness felt colder to Claire than any dramatic slam could have.
About twenty minutes later, Daniel’s phone rang. He listened in silence for a long time, standing in the middle of the sidewalk and shifting from one foot to the other, as if a sudden frost had settled over the warm August evening.
“Mom, stop,” he said at last. “Now say it again, but slowly and calmly. What exactly are you asking us to do?”
“Take Rachel and the children with you! Or just give her the money! Daniel, she’s your sister!”
“Mom, we have paid for three tickets. Not six. Not even five. Besides, our family arithmetic works a little differently.”
“Do you hear yourself? You’re sitting there counting tickets while your own sister is suffering!”
“I hear myself perfectly. And honestly, listening to you is becoming more and more unpleasant.”
That evening, Daniel told Claire the entire conversation. They sat on the bare floor of the room where they had not yet managed to buy either a sofa or a rug.
“She came here today,” Claire said. “During the afternoon. She said almost exactly the same things. Even raised her voice at roughly the same points.”
“So she decided to attack us from both sides.”
“An old strategy. First, you inspire pity. Then you add guilt. Finally, you send a bill for the terrible offense of other people daring to build lives of their own.”
Daniel slowly rubbed his palms over his knees.
“You know what bothered me most? The phrase, ‘But you can afford it.’ Not ‘Could you please help?’ Just ‘You can afford it.’ As if being capable of doing something automatically means you’re obligated to do it.”
“An old trick,” Claire agreed. “If you own an umbrella, apparently justice requires you to put it away and get soaked with everyone else.”
“Are you angry?”
“No. I’m packing the suitcase. At least that produces something useful.”
“Claire,” Daniel said, looking at her with complete seriousness, “I’m not going to let anyone take this vacation away from us. And no one is touching the apartment. Everything is legally settled, the decision was made long ago, and there is nothing left to discuss.”
“I know,” Claire said quietly. “But sometimes it still feels good to hear those words out loud. Even without an orchestra, fireworks, or a red carpet.”
Margaret came again on Thursday, exactly five days before their departure. This time Daniel was home. His mother began speaking before she had even removed the bag from her shoulder.
“I’ve thought everything through, and I’ve made my decision. You will give the money you saved for the vacation to Rachel. She’ll take the children to the coast, and you can go next year.”
“Good afternoon,” Claire replied. “I’m delighted to see you too. We’re doing wonderfully, and the renovation is slowly moving forward.”
“Stop mocking me! I’m speaking to my son!”
“Of course. I won’t interrupt. I’ll stand over here and listen. Watching conversations like this is my second-favorite form of entertainment.”
“Mom,” Daniel said, stepping forward. “You can sit down or stay standing. I don’t care. But you’re going to listen to me once, all the way to the end. I’m not repeating myself.”
“Daniel…”
“First. Rachel had a husband. She was the one who decided to divorce him. She packed her things and moved back in with you. You agreed to take her and the children in. Those were her decisions and yours. Claire and I had nothing to do with them.”
“How can you talk about your own sister like that?”
“Second. Her former husband pays child support regularly. He hasn’t missed a single month. Rachel could have gone back to work a long time ago. The children aren’t babies anymore. She chose to live on child support and your support. That was her decision too.”
“You have no idea how difficult things are for her!”
“Everyone has difficult periods. My life gets difficult sometimes too. Yet I don’t go to Rachel and demand that she hand over her money or give up a vacation for my sake.”