Chapter 6 - One Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars
Marcus refused to explain while Alicia was on the phone.
That alone told Jordan the answer was bad.
“Hang up,” Marcus said.
Jordan stared at him.
“No.”
“This is between your mother and me.”
Alicia’s voice came through the speaker.
“It became Jordan’s business when you tied his home to it.”
Marcus’s eyes flashed.
“You gave up the house.”
“For him.”
“You signed the settlement.”
“Because you promised stability.”
Marcus walked toward the window.
Jordan watched his father’s shoulders tighten.
“Everybody keeps using that word like I stole something.”
Alicia responded.
“Did you refinance?”
Marcus remained silent.
Jordan already knew.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“How much?”
Marcus turned.
“I took cash out.”
“How much?”
“Eighty-five thousand.”
Jordan’s stomach tightened.
Alicia cursed softly.
Marcus snapped.
“Don’t.”
“Where did eighty-five thousand dollars go?”
“Debt.”
“What debt?”
“My debt.”
Jordan stared.
Marcus kept his gaze on the window.
“After the divorce, I had credit cards. Legal expenses. Repairs. Your travel basketball wasn’t free.”
Jordan flinched.
Marcus noticed.
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You just put me on the list.”
“I’m explaining.”
Alicia interrupted.
“Travel basketball did not cost eighty-five thousand dollars.”
Marcus’s mouth tightened.
“No.”
Jordan waited.
Marcus finally said, “I also helped Keisha.”
The room became very quiet.
“How much?” Jordan asked.
Marcus did not answer.
“How much did you give her?”
“It wasn’t a gift.”
“How much?”
“Thirty thousand.”
Jordan stared.
Alicia’s voice went cold.
“You borrowed against the house I left you to fund your girlfriend.”
Marcus snapped around.
“She was opening a wellness studio. It was an investment.”
“Did she repay it?”
Marcus said nothing.
Jordan understood.
“How much?”
Marcus sighed.
“She’s repaid some.”
“How much?”
“Six thousand.”
Jordan looked at the mortgage sheet again.
Twenty-four thousand remained.
“And the rest of the eighty-five?”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“I told you.”
“No. You listed words.”
Jordan began counting.
“Thirty to Keisha. Some credit cards. Repairs. Basketball.”
Marcus said nothing.
“Where’s the rest?”
Alicia spoke softly.
“Marcus.”
He closed his eyes.
“There was another investment.”
Jordan felt dread.
“What?”
Marcus sat down.
“A property deal.”
“With who?”
“A friend.”
“What happened?”
“It didn’t work.”
Jordan laughed in disbelief.
“You lost it?”
“I lost twenty-two thousand.”
The number hung in the room.
Jordan tried adding everything mentally.
Thirty thousand to Keisha.
Twenty-two thousand lost.
Debt.
Repairs.
Unknown expenses.
He suddenly understood something else.
“Atlanta.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You said fourteen hundred dollars was too much.”
Marcus rubbed his temples.
“I was trying to stop spending.”
“On me.”
“That’s not fair.”
Jordan’s voice rose.
“You borrowed eighty-five thousand dollars against the house, gave thirty thousand to Keisha, lost twenty-two thousand with your friend, and fourteen hundred for my showcase became the irresponsible expense?”
Marcus stood.
“I have paid for you your entire life.”
Jordan recoiled.
Alicia said sharply, “Marcus.”
But Jordan lifted one hand.
“No.”
His eyes stayed on his father.
“Say it.”
Marcus breathed heavily.
“Say what?”
“What you mean.”
“I mean I’ve provided for you.”
“So now I owe you.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You keep saying it without saying it.”
Jordan’s eyes burned.
“All the shoes. Camps. food. electricity. You stack it up every time I need something important so I feel guilty for costing you money.”
Marcus looked stunned.
“That is not what I do.”
“It is.”
Jordan shook his head.
“And the crazy part is I believed you. Every time you said something was too expensive, I stopped asking.”
He remembered a summer camp he had skipped at fifteen.
A trainer he had stopped using.
A pair of shoes he wore until the soles separated.
Not because Marcus was poor.
Because Jordan thought being grateful meant becoming inexpensive.
Alicia spoke through the phone.
“Jordan, listen to me.”
He barely heard her.
Marcus stepped forward.
“I made mistakes with money.”
Jordan looked at him.
“This isn’t about money.”
Marcus frowned.
“It’s about how every mistake somehow gets paid for by me.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“That isn’t true.”
“Then name one thing Keisha gave up.”
Silence.
Jordan continued.
“Name one thing Darius lost because you made a bad investment.”
“That’s not his fault.”
“I know.”
Jordan’s voice cracked.
“That’s the whole point. None of this is Darius’s fault.”
Marcus looked away.
Jordan realized he was trembling.
He lowered the phone.
Alicia’s voice softened.
“Come stay with me for a while.”
Jordan looked up.
Marcus immediately said, “No.”
Jordan turned toward him.
Marcus corrected himself.
“I mean—school. Basketball. He can’t just leave.”
Alicia replied, “He can decide where he sleeps this weekend.”
Jordan felt something shift inside him.
For years, every argument had ended when Marcus raised his voice or left the room.
Not this time.
Jordan packed a duffel bag.
Marcus stood in his doorway.
“You’re really leaving?”
“For the weekend.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
Jordan zipped the bag.
“I do.”
Marcus watched him lift it.
At the front door, Jordan paused.
The unopened congratulations card remained on the table.
He almost took it.
Instead, he walked past it.
Outside, Coach Reed’s truck was waiting.
Alicia had called him.
Jordan climbed into the passenger seat.
Coach Reed glanced toward the house.
“You sure?”
Jordan looked through the window.
Marcus stood behind the curtain.
Jordan nodded.
“For once, yeah.”
Coach Reed drove away.
Marcus remained alone.
Then his phone rang.
Keisha.
He answered.
Her first words were not about Jordan.
“Marcus, the bank called me.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“They said the home-equity application can’t move forward without the updated appraisal.”
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Marcus stared at the empty driveway.
For the first time, the life he had been trying to build began collapsing from both directions.
