“Can you at least let me inside?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Caleb looked hurt.
Helina noticed.
She also remembered how she had felt standing in her empty kitchen on Christmas morning.
“I am willing to speak with you,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I am ready to pretend nothing happened.”
He lowered his gaze.
“We don’t have anywhere to go.”
“You’ve said that already.”
“Our apartment lease ended years ago. We moved in here to save money, but—”
“But you didn’t save enough.”
Caleb rubbed the back of his neck.
“We had expenses.”
Helina almost smiled.
Of course they did. Everyone always had expenses when someone else was paying for the roof over their heads.
“What happened to the money?” she asked.
Caleb hesitated.
That was enough.
“Sarah’s student loans,” he admitted quietly. “Some credit cards. The kids. We kept thinking we’d catch up next month.”
“And while you were catching up, you were living here rentree.”
“I know.”
“No, Caleb. I don’t think you do.”
His face tightened.
Helina took a slow breath.
“For 3 years, I paid the property taxes, the repairs, the utilities, the insurance, and most of the groceries. I allowed you both to build a life without the pressure of rent. And in return, you allowed your wife to treat me like an inconvenience inside my own home.”
“Mom, Sloan can be difficult.”
Helina stared at him.
The words hung between them.
Then she asked, “And what did you do about it?”
Caleb had no answer.
“Exactly.”
Helina leaned slightly closer.
“Do you know what hurt me the most?”
His eyes lifted.
“It wasn’t Sloan.”
He frowned.
“It wasn’t her sister. It wasn’t her parents. I never expected loyalty from them.”
Caleb’s expression slowly changed.
“It was you.”
He closed his eyes.
Helina continued.
“You knew about the trip. You knew I wasn’t assigned a room. You knew they planned to leave before I woke up.”
“I didn’t know they were going to remove you from the group chat.”
“But you knew enough.”
Caleb’s shoulders sank.
“I didn’t want to fight with Sloan.”
“And that was your choice.”
“Mom, no, listen—”
Her voice remained calm, but there was strength behind every word.
“Every time you said you didn’t want to fight, someone else paid the price. You stayed quiet when Sloan rearranged my home. You stayed quiet when her parents treated this place like a hotel. You stayed quiet when I paid for things that were never my responsibility. And then you stayed quiet when they planned to leave me behind.”
Caleb looked down.
“I just wanted everyone to be happy.”
Helena nodded slowly.
“And somehow the person who always had to be unhappy was me.”
That finally reached him.
She saw it in his face.
The truth was difficult to hear when it had been hidden behind excuses for years.
“I am sorry,” Caleb whispered.
Helina studied him.
“I’m sure you are.”
His head lifted quickly.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you’re sorry now.”
The distinction hurt him.
Good.
Helena thought some lessons needed to hurt.
Before Caleb could respond, Sloan’s voice came from the driveway.
“Caleb, are you seriously begging her again?”
He turned his head.
“Give me a minute.”
Sloan appeared around the corner of the house. She stopped when she saw the security chain.
“Unbelievable.”
Helena sighed.
“Sloan, please don’t start.”
“Oh, I’ll start wherever I want. This entire situation is ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. You canceled Christmas because your feelings were hurt.”
Helena stared at her.
Then she said quietly, “My feelings were not hurt because you left without me.”