Vanessa sprinted out the front door, her silk jumpsuit fluttering in the evening breeze. She was waving her phone like a distress flare. “Claire! Stop! What did you do? My cards are dead! The internet is gone, and the house is freezing!”
Margaret followed her, her face pale and drawn. She looked like a different person without the soft lighting of the dining room. “Claire, call the utility company! The security system is screaming, and I can’t get the gates to open! Fix this immediately! It’s an embarrassment!”
I rolled down my window halfway. The calm on my face was more terrifying to them than any scream could have been. I looked at my mother, the woman who had just called me a parasite.
“I did exactly what you asked, Mother. I left,” I said, my voice steady. “And since you said Easter is so much better without me, I assumed you wouldn’t want my money, my house, or my corporate-leased cars either.”
“Your house?” Vanessa gasped, her voice reaching a shrill, hysterical pitch. “Mom said this was Grandma’s! She said it was inherited!”