Suzanne tensed her shoulders. He’d complained about her mother on the way over. Was he about to start in on her again? She vowed to stay cool and just let him blow off steam. She couldn’t really blame him for being frustrated about her mother always being late with her rent, but it was her mother. What was she supposed to do?
“It’s probably better if don’t ask her for any favors if I end up not renewing her lease,” he remarked.
She gasped. Venting was one thing. Putting her mother out on the street was something else. “Well, that’s a little extreme, don’t you think?”
“She’s been late with the rent four times in the last six months, Suzanne. The terms of her lease say I don’t have to offer her a renewal if she’s late more than three times.”
Suzanne looked straight ahead at the curving roadway and tried to convince herself that he was bluffing. He wouldn’t actually evict her family. This had been a source of contention between her and Brad for months now. She thought if she just rode it out, it would go away, but it seemed to be getting worse. “I’d really like to stay out of this, Brad.”
“I’m sorry I even rented to her,” he muttered.
“You know, Brad, Mom’s been working all the overtime she can get.”
“Suzanne, your mother knew how much the rent was when she signed the lease. If it was too much for her, she shouldn’t have agreed to take the house. She could have stayed in that apartment she had. It was less money.”
He had a point, and she knew it, but to agree would be disloyal to her mother. “That apartment was a dump. You don’t realize how hard it is for her, Brad. I think only Matthew is giving her any money for household expenses.” Suzanne hoped she could evoke sympathy from him, but his next words told her he remained unmoved.
“That’s ridiculous. Your mother has three grown children living under her roof, and they all work. If she declines to accept any money from them, she’ll have to make up the shortfall herself and not complain that it’s too much.”
“Come on, Brad. Kenya only makes a little past minimum wage. And Derrick works for you. You know how little he earns.”
“Matthew is a medical records clerk, Suzanne. He probably makes only a little more than I pay Derrick to run my Subway franchise. The difference is that Matthew is trying to help your mother out, while Derrick only thinks of Derrick.”
“That’s not fair, Brad,” Suzanne said defensively. “Derrick has a child to support. Matthew doesn’t.”
“I don’t believe for one minute that Derrick is supporting his daughter. Matthew is looking toward the future, but I think Derrick looks upon managing a sandwich shop as a career.”
She knew he was probably right. Matthew, who used to be every bit as much of a freeloader as Derrick, had developed ambition, while Derrick had not. But it was her entire family’s future that she was worried about. She decided to ask him straight out about his intentions as he turned the corner onto their cul-de-sac. “Brad, are you going to evict my mother?”
He sighed. “I guess that’s really not necessary. But the late fees will continue to accumulate every time she’s late.”
“Doesn’t that seem a little heartless, Brad? I mean, she is my mother.”
“Suzanne, you’ll recall how reluctant I was to let her rent the house in the first place. I warned her then that the agent would enforce every term of the lease, and that if she didn’t have the full amount of the rent in by the first of the month she’d have to pay a fifty-dollar fine, plus ten more dollars each day until she paid it. She said it would be no problem. You said it would be no problem.”
Suzanne did remember, but she could hardly admit it. Instead she recalled her mother pleading with her to get Brad to stop the late charges. She’d tried to get her mother to understand that they had a contract with the property managers, and that they were the ones who imposed and pocketed the late fees, not her and Brad. But her mother wasn’t having it and insisted that Brad could stop it if he wanted to.
“And now that there’s a problem, you want me to forget about having warned her and just look the other way,” Brad pointed out as he activated the remote control for the garage door, then brought the truck to a stop next to the sports car parked inside. “This is precisely why you should never rent to family. So maybe you need to talk to her about getting some money out of Derrick and Kenya to help her get the rent paid on time.”
Suzanne stared straight ahead. Maybe that’s what she did need to do. Not only did she have to get the message across to Micheline Trent to lay off Brad, she also had to get her mother to start paying her rent on the first of every month.
Her nice, easy life was suddenly becoming a lot more complicated.
Chapter 3
Lisa Canfield tore open the printed invitation. She knew her first husband’s birthday was coming up, and she knew he’d be fifty. It didn’t surprise her to see that he and Suzanne were giving a party to mark the milestone.
“What’s that?” her mother-in-law, Esther, asked. “Is someone getting married?”
“No. It looks like a wedding invitation, but it’s actually for Brad’s fiftieth birthday party.”
“Oh, yes. Arlene mentioned it when I ran into her at Walgreens. She said it’s going to be the party to end all parties.”
Esther, who lived with her only son and his family, and Suzanne’s mother, Arlene, who visited Suzanne so often she might as well live with the Betancourts, both had an interest in gardening. Over the years they’d become, if not exactly friends, congenial acquaintances. Lisa had to admit that Arlene Hall did have a green thumb. The Betancourts’ house had the nicest landscaping on the block, plentiful without looking like a jungle.
Lisa rolled her eyes. “I guess that means Stevie Wonder will be providing the entertainment. Can you believe it? They actually included admission passes. Who does Suzanne think she is, Oprah?”
“You mean we can’t get in without a pass?”
“That’s right. They sent four of them. One for Darrell and me, one for you, and one each for Paige and Devon and their dates.” Lisa and Darrell had a remarkably easy time blending their families, as their daughters were just three months apart and loved the idea of becoming sisters. The twin boys they had together, now fourteen years old, completed the unit.
“I’m sure it’ll be lovely. But speaking of dates, do you think Paige will invite her new young man?”
“I can’t imagine her not inviting him, Ma Canfield.”
“Don’t you think that’ll be a little awkward, under the circumstances?”
“I’m sure it will be,” Lisa replied easily. “But they’re all adults now. They can handle it.”
Esther flashed a knowing smile. “Come on, Lisa. You know this will make Suzanne furious. Aren’t you enjoying that thought just a little?”
“I cannot tell a lie,” Lisa replied, laughing. “But I’ll tell you. I always figured it would happen eventually. I just didn’t know if it would involve Paige or Devon. And I can’t wait to see the look on Suzanne’s face when she sees who Paige shows up with.”
Flo Hickman dropped the rest of the day’s mail when she saw the Betancourts’ return address on the square beige envelope. Not bothering to retrieve the other mail at her feet, she instead tore open the envelope in her hand, holding her breath as she read it.
Oh, my God. An invitation to Suzanne’s house.
This had to mean that she and Ernie had truly made a comeback. She couldn’t remember