All four typing indicators disappeared.
Silence.
Then I added:
“The only thing I never heard was anyone bothering to ask for my permission.”
Mom responded first.
“We were going to talk to you!”
I wrote back:
“No, Mom.
You were going to inform me.”
Dad jumped in.
“Don’t exaggerate, Jessi.
We were simply trying to help your sister get on her feet.”
“Then help her with your own real estate, Dad.”
Chloe typed:
“I thought Mom had already cleared it with you!”
A wave of exhaustion washed over me.
“Chloe, when you asked if I had agreed, Mom explicitly said she hadn’t told me yet.
You were sitting right at the table.”
She had nothing to say to that.
Flynn did.
“The toddlers shouldn’t suffer for this!”
“Correct, Flynn.
Which is why their father should provide a roof over their heads.”
Mom wrote:
“You have always been so cold and heartless.”
I stared at the message for a second.
Then replied:
“I am not cold for refusing to hand over $640,000 of my life’s work.”
Dad called.
I declined.
He called again.
I declined again.
Then Mom texted:
“Where are you right now?!”
“On the highway to Chicago.”
“Chicago?!”
“I accepted an executive director role here.”
Chloe called me directly.
This time, I picked up.
Her voice was rough from crying.
“Did you actually move away, Jessi?”
“Yes, Chloe.”
“And what are we supposed to do now?!”
I watched traffic move past me.
“I don’t know.”
“Jessi, we already terminated the lease on our rental apartment!”
That genuinely surprised me.
“Why on earth would you terminate your lease without speaking to me first?”
She went quiet for three seconds.
“Mom said it was a done deal.”
“Then take it up with Mom.”
“We have nowhere to put our furniture!” she wailed.
“I have two kids on the sidewalk!”
“And I am not responsible for housing your family, Chloe.”
“I’m your sister!”
“Which is precisely why you should have shown me enough basic respect to ask before building your entire life around my asseTS.”
In the background, I heard Mom take the phone from her.
