The next morning, Helena was sitting at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee when her phone buzzed.
Motion detected. Front driveway.
She didn’t need to look at the screen twice.
They were back.
A moment later, the sound of vehicles pulling into the driveway rolled through the quiet house.
One car door slammed, then another.
Sloan was not happy.
Helina calmly took another sip of coffee.
Through the narrow windows beside the front door, she watched Caleb walk toward the porch. He looked exhausted. His hair was messy, and dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
Sloan followed close behind him. Behind her came her parents, Graham and Elise, both wearing the same irritated expressions.
They looked like people returning from a failed vacation, which Helena supposed was exactly what they were.
Caleb stepped onto the porch and entered his code.
The keypad flashed red.
He frowned. He tried again.
Red.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
“Try it again,” Sloan snapped.
Caleb punched in the numbers harder.
Nothing.
Sloan folded her arms.
“Of course, she changed it.”
Caleb reached into his pocket and pulled out his key.
Helina watched as he inserted it into the main lock. The wooden door opened. Then Caleb stopped.
Behind it stood the heavy security door locked it through the metal mesh. He could see his mother standing quietly in the hallway.
“Mom.”
Helena smiled politely.
“Good morning, Caleb.”
He grabbed the handle.
“Open the door.”
“I see you decided to come home early.”
“Open the door, Mom.”
Behind him, Sloan pushed forward.
“Nora.”
Helena raised one eyebrow.
Sloan stopped herself.
“Helina,” she corrected sharply. “This isn’t funny. We’ve been driving since dawn.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“My parents barely slept.”
“Then perhaps they should go home.”
Elise stared at her.
“Excuse me?”
Helena looked directly at her.
“This is my home. You don’t live here.”
Sloan suddenly glanced past Helena into the hallway. Her expression changed.
“Where’s my table?”
Helena said nothing.
“The one by the stairs. Where is it?”
“In the garage.”
Sloan’s face tightened.
“My things are in the garage.”
“All of them.”
Caleb slowly looked at his mother.
“Mom, what did you do?”
Helena folded her hands.
“I gave you what you wanted.”
“What does that mean?”
“You wanted space from me. You wanted a vacation without me. You wanted to enjoy yourselves without having to worry about the woman whose house you lived in or whose money you spent.”
Her voice remained quiet.
“So I decided to give you space.”
Sloan stepped closer to the security door.
“You packed our belongings?”
“Carefully.”
“You can’t do that.”
Helena smiled.
“I already did.”
Caleb stared through the screen.
“We live here.”
“No,” Helena said. “You stayed here.”
His expression changed. It was subtle, but she saw it.
For the first time, he understood this wasn’t an argument about Christmas anymore.
Something had changed.
Helena pointed toward the driveway.
“The garage code is 6,381. Everything is packed and labeled.”
Sloan’s mouth fell open.
“You expect us to leave?”
“I expect you to make a decision.”
Caleb shook his head.
“We don’t have anywhere to go.”
Helena’s face softened for only a second.
“You both work. You’ve lived here without paying rent for 3 years. The savings you should have built during that time belong to you. What you do next is your responsibility.”
Sloan laughed bitterly.