His expression was furious.
On the screen was Westdale’s Facebook announcement thanking me for donating $31,000 in Walter’s memory.
“Mom, did you really give away all that money?”
“Good morning, Adam.”
“Thirty-one thousand dollars! We thought that money could help us buy a house!”
I looked at him.
“Adam, you never asked me for it.”
He stared at me.
“We were going to talk to you after Christmas.”
“After the Christmas I wasn’t invited to?”
His face reddened.
“Are you trying to punish us?”
I considered his question carefully.
“No. I’d been thinking about helping Westdale for months. Was I upset yesterday? Yes. But I made the donation because it felt right.”
Adam shook his head.
“You don’t understand, Mom.”
“Then explain it to me.”
He hesitated.
Finally, he revealed something I hadn’t known.
Renee’s mother, Patricia, was facing eviction.
She’d fallen behind on rent after losing her factory job.
