“Tyler found a spot in the Pearl District,” my mother explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “It’s a great corner location for a sports bar, but he needs a stronger capital position to get it started.”
She looked at me and said that he needed fifty thousand dollars and that I could help with my salary and Terrence’s insurance money. I sat down because my knees felt hollow, and I reminded them that my husband and daughter had been dead for only two weeks. Tyler rolled his eyes and told me that sitting in a sad house forever wasn’t going to bring anyone back.
My mother laid her hand over his and told me that maybe this was God’s way of letting me focus on my real family. I asked her to clarify, and she shrugged, saying I was always spread too thin with the Army and Terrence and that child. When she called my daughter “that child,” a cold fury settled over me and my shaking finally stopped.
“You need to leave,” I said, my voice getting quieter in the way it did when I was most serious on the field.