Chapter 19 - THE REPAYMENT CHECK MADE ELENA ANGRY FOR A DIFFERENT REASON
Daniel called the following month.
“I need to talk to you about your mother.”
Elena immediately braced herself.
That reaction had become automatic.
“What happened?”
“Nothing bad.”
“Daniel.”
“She increased her repayment amount.”
Elena frowned.
The mediation agreement required Diane to repay part of the disputed card spending over several years.
The payment was intentionally manageable.
Daniel had structured it that way because Elena did not want to create another dependency in reverse.
“How much?”
“Almost triple.”
“Why?”
“Apparently she’s added private pickleball lessons on Saturdays.”
Elena stood from her desk.
Rebecca looked through the glass wall of the conference room and mouthed, Everything okay?
Elena nodded.
“Tell her no.”
Daniel paused.
“You want me to reject the payment?”
“Yes.”
“Elena—”
“She’s trying to buy her way back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know my mother.”
“So do I.”
That irritated Elena.
Daniel continued before she could answer.
“She didn’t ask me to tell you.”
Elena stopped.
“What?”
“She asked whether the agreement permitted early repayment. I told her yes.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because it’s your agreement.”
Elena sat again.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You need to be careful too.”
“About what?”
“Interpreting every decent thing she does as manipulation simply because manipulation used to be common.”
Elena stared through the office window.
“That sounds like something my therapist would say.”
“I bill more.”
Despite herself, Elena laughed.
That evening she called Diane.
“I heard about the repayment.”
Diane sighed.
“Daniel told you.”
“He had to.”
“I know.”
“Why are you paying more?”
“Because I can.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, Mom. If you think paying faster changes anything with Leo and Maya—”
“It doesn’t.”
Elena stopped.
Diane continued.
“I owe the money.”
“We settled the amount.”
“And I’m paying that amount.”
“Faster.”
“I have more income.”
“Why?”
“I’m working more.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Diane said:
“Because for most of my adult life, I thought earning less than I wanted meant someone else should make up the difference.”
Elena said nothing.
“I don’t want to live like that anymore.”
“And the kids?”
“What about them?”
“You’re telling me this has nothing to do with getting more access?”
Diane’s answer came quickly.
“I want more access.”
At least she was honest.
“I want them to know me. I want you to trust me. I want Sunday dinners and birthdays and all the things I destroyed.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“But if you never give me those things, I still spent money that wasn’t mine.”
A long silence followed.
Diane continued.
“Repayment is not an application fee for being their grandmother.”
Elena looked toward the framed photograph of Michael on her desk.
He would have liked that sentence.
Maybe not trusted it yet.
But liked it.
“Okay,” Elena said.
“Okay what?”
“Keep the schedule if it’s financially safe for you.”
“It is.”
“But Daniel checks.”
Diane laughed softly.
“Of course he does.”
Elena almost ended the call.
Then Diane said:
“Next month is two years since Michael died.”
Elena’s hand tightened around the phone.
“I know.”
“There’s something about Michael I should have told you a long time ago.”
Elena stopped breathing for a second.
“What?”
Diane was quiet.
Then she said:
“I don’t want to tell you over the phone.”
And for the first time since the financial disaster ended, Elena felt the old fear return.
Not about money.
May you like
About her husband.
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