Chapter 9 - THE ROOM FOR RENT
For a moment, Margaret thought Daniel was planning to rent out the whole house.
Then Denise sent a second message.
The agent said they’re advertising the furnished ground-floor suite.
Margaret’s room.
The bedroom beside the small bathroom.
The space Daniel once called her permanent home.
She opened the attached listing.
Ideal private accommodation for an older relative or long-term guest. Established family household. Shared amenities.
Photographs showed her bedspread, her lamp, and Arthur’s picture on the nightstand.
Taken before she moved.
She called the number listed.
The agent, Marcy, answered pleasantly.
Margaret gave her name.
“I’m the person whose belongings appear in those photographs.”
The pleasant tone faded.
“Oh.”
“That room is no longer furnished as shown.”
“Mr. Collins said you were temporarily staying with a friend.”
“I have signed a lease elsewhere.”
“I see.”
“I’d appreciate the photographs being removed.”
Marcy agreed to check immediately.
Margaret was not interested in arguing about whether Daniel could rent a room in his own house.
She was interested in why he was pretending she had not left it.
Ellen supplied a possible answer that afternoon.
“He may be trying to show that your move is temporary. That would matter to his repayment obligations under your agreement.”
Margaret looked at the room’s description again.
“Or he needs money.”
“Both can be true.”
At four, Daniel called.
“Did you interfere with our rental listing?”
“I corrected photographs of things that are no longer there.”
“We need income.”
“Then advertise what you have.”
“You’re making this impossible.”
“No. I’m making it accurate.”
He breathed heavily into the phone.
“We planned around you living here, Mom.”
Margaret waited.
He did not seem to hear his own words.
“You planned around my money staying there,” she said.
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
“I’m trying to keep this family afloat.”
“What did the vacation cost?”
“That’s private.”
“My savings weren’t private when you needed the hotel bill paid.”
He hung up again.
That evening, Ellen confirmed the meeting for Friday at ten.
Both Daniel and Rebecca had agreed to attend.
Margaret began preparing her folder.
Receipts.
Agreement.
Bank confirmation.
The note.
At the bottom of a stack of old papers, she found a birthday card from Daniel.
Inside, his handwriting slanted across the page.
We’d be lost without you, Mom.
Margaret sat very still.
May you like
She had once read it as love.
Now she could not stop wondering what he had meant.
