Chapter 9 - LAUREN ASKS FOR $50,000
The following year, Lauren called.
She sounded strange.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Brandon’s income dropped.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And our mortgage adjusted.”
“Okay.”
“We’re tight.”
I knew what was coming.
“Could you loan us fifty thousand?”
I closed my eyes.
“No.”
Silence.
“What?”
“I’m not lending you fifty thousand dollars.”
“You have it.”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t the question.”
She became angry.
Then emotional.
Then:
“Is this still punishment?”
“No.”
“What is it?”
“I’m no longer the family emergency fund.”
“That’s unfair.”
“Maybe.”
“But it’s still my answer.”
She hung up.
Two weeks passed.
Then she called again.
“We sold Brandon’s SUV.”
“Okay.”
“Canceled the club.”
“Good.”
“We met with a financial planner.”
“Good.”
Then silence.
“I found an old email.”
“What email?”
“From when you paid my student loans.”
I waited.
“Forty-two thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“And the wedding deposit.”
“Yes.”
“And the condo down payment.”
“Yes.”
Long silence.
“I told Brandon Dad paid part of that.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“I forgot.”
That answer should have enraged me.
Instead, it made perfect sense.
My help had become so normal that she forgot the source.
Lauren whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
“For forgetting?”
“For acting like you never did anything for me.”
That mattered more than repayment.
Then she said:
“Would you still say no to the fifty?”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
She laughed too.
May you like
For the first time in years, we sounded like sisters instead of claimant and account.
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