Chapter 6 - Mark Started Calling It “Our Place”
The first time I heard Mark call the cabin:
our place,
I corrected him.
Lightly.
We were at dinner.
He said:
“We’re heading up to our place Friday.”
I smiled.
“My place.”
Everyone laughed.
Mark said:
“Technicality.”
I answered:
“Very technical.”
Still joking.
No boundary.
Months later, Ron told one of his friends:
“Mark and Emily have a place on Pine Lake.”
I overheard.
I said nothing.
Then Emily asked whether they could:
renovate the downstairs bedroom.
“Why?”
“Eventually we want to spend most summers there.”
“Fine.”
“Can we take out that wall?”
“No.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re never here.”
That stung.
I answered:
“It’s still my house.”
Emily immediately apologized.
The discussion ended.
But something had shifted.
The cabin was simultaneously:
mine legally
and:
theirs emotionally.
Those arrangements can work.
May you like
Until money gets tight.
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