She still had the little cloth bag in her hand.
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She looked at Lena.
Then Phoebe.
Then me.
“You had no right to drag them into this.”
I almost admired the sentence.
“Why did you take Grandma’s money?”
“You had no right to drag them into this.”
Mom glanced toward the office doors.
“Not here.”
“Nobody is listening.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Then let’s walk.”
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We moved toward the far end of the parking lot.
Mom stopped beside her car.
“Nobody is listening.”
I looked at the hood, then at the little cloth bag still clenched in her hand.
“It wasn’t like that,” she said.
“What was it like?”
“Your grandmother always favored you.”
Lena frowned. “Mom.”
“Stay out of it.”
“Your grandmother always favored you.”
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“You told us Grandma left you money.”
Mom’s eyes flashed.
“I said she wanted all of you taken care of.”
“No,” Lena said. “You said she left you money.”
Mom looked at me.
“Margot lived with her.”
“You told us Grandma left you money.”
There it was.
“You had Grandma,” she said. “My girls didn’t.”
Phoebe looked at her.
“Your girls?”
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Mom ignored that.
“You got years of help from her. You lived there for free. She paid for things. She saved for you while I was raising two children.”
“You got years of help from her.”
I stared at my mother.
“Grandma wasn’t payment for losing my mother.”
She flinched.
“Don’t twist this.”
“I’m not.”
“You always act like you were the only one who went without something.”
“Grandma wasn’t payment for losing my mother.”
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“I was four.”
“I was young too!”
Mom looked from one daughter to another.
Then she tried again.
“You had Grandma. They had me.”
“Those weren’t equal things you got to trade.”
“I was young too!”
“I didn’t say they were.”
“You just did.”
Mom gripped the little bag.
“I intended to replace some of it.”
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“With what?”
She looked away.
“The car?”
No answer.
“I intended to replace some of it.”
“The laptops?”
Phoebe stared at her own hands.
“I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t.”
Lena opened the bag she had brought and pulled out her laptop.
“Sell it.”
“I know you didn’t.”
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Mom blinked.
“What?”
“Sell mine. Put the money back.”
Phoebe spoke immediately.
“Mine too.”
“No.”
Both sisters looked at me.
“You don’t owe me what she bought you.” Then I looked at Mom. “She does.”
“Sell mine. Put the money back.”
Mom’s face turned pale.
“So what now? You’re going to report me?”
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“I already asked the bank about challenging the withdrawal.”
“You’re doing this to your own mother?”
“You went to the bank first.”
“You’re going to report me?”
“Margot, I had access to that account.”
“That doesn’t make the money yours.”
“I was going to fix it.”
“When?”
She had no answer.
“Sell the car,” I said.
Her head snapped up.
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“What?”
“I was going to fix it.”
“Start putting it back.”
“I need a car.”
“You needed that car?”
She looked at the polished vehicle behind her.
The answer was obvious.
Her voice lowered.
“If you keep doing this, you’re going to tear this family apart.”
