Chapter 16 - Moving Day
The moving truck arrived on a Saturday.
I did not offer to pay.
I did bring sandwiches.
That became a joke.
Daniel lifted a box.
“Wow. Mom contributed lunch.”
“Generously.”
“Turkey?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
He smiled.
Liam struggled with leaving his bedroom.
Blue walls.
Built-in desk.
Backyard hoop.
He sat on the floor surrounded by boxes.
I found him there.
“I hate the new house.”
“You haven’t lived there yet.”
“It’s small.”
“Smaller.”
“My friends will think we’re poor.”
I sat beside him.
“What do you think poor means?”
He shrugged.
“Not having stuff.”
I looked around the nearly empty room.
“You have a lot of stuff.”
“Not this house.”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“This is because of me.”
My chest tightened.
“Why would you think that?”
“The birthday.”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“Your slap changed my decision to stop paying. But the financial problem existed before you hit me.”
He started crying.
“Then why didn’t you stop before?”
Excellent question.
“Because I was afraid.”
He looked shocked.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Of Dad?”
“No.”
“Of what?”
“That if I stopped helping, he would think I didn’t love him.”
Liam wiped his face.
“Did he?”
“For a little while.”
“What happened?”
“He learned he was wrong.”
Liam thought.
“Then saying no doesn’t mean you hate somebody.”
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“No.”
That might have been the most important lesson money ever taught him.
