After Cancer I Turn into A Badass novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Deed

My mother opened the front door in her apron, and for once she did not smile.

"I called you four times last night," she said. "Where have you been?"

"At the lake," I said. "With my husband."

I walked past her into the house.

Glenn came in behind me with the black binder in his hand.

Joan came in behind him.

She had followed us in her own truck and would not be left outside.

The kitchen was full.

My father sat at the table with his reading glasses on.

Daphne leaned against the counter in leggings and one of her fiancé's sweatshirts.

Her hair was in a knot and her eyes were swollen.

The pot roast pan was in the sink, and nobody had washed it.

I set the binder in the middle of the table and opened it to the last page.

"Read it, Mom."

She did not look down.

"I know what it says."

"Read it out loud."

"I will not be questioned in my own kitchen."

"Then I'll say the part that matters," I said. "Five twelve on Friday. Double this month, for my care."

My father took off his glasses.

Daphne made a small, strangled noise.

"You knew," I said. "You knew before I walked in. You sat me down with the green beans and let me say it to your face, and you already knew."

"Of course I knew." My mother's hands went flat on the counter. "The hospital called me. I was your emergency contact. What was I supposed to do, tell you at the door? In front of his parents?"

"Tell me you were sorry."

"For what? That you were sick?"

"That I was sick, and you wrote a check to yourself."

She turned on Glenn.

"You brought her here to humiliate me."

"I brought her here to ask you why," he said.

"Why?" My mother laughed. "Because someone had to. Because I raised two girls in this house on a hardware store, Glenn. One of them needs things. One of them has never needed anything."

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