Derek turned to him.
“What?”
“Restoration is fine. But you should build new work too.”
He could only stare.
“You’d work here?”
Dad looked offended by the question.
“I’m seventy-two, not dead.”
Mom called out from outside.
“You are not working six days a week!”
Dad called back.
“Four.”
“Three.”
He turned to us for sympathy.
“Your mother has become unreasonable.”
Mom laughed. For the first time, we discussed the future instead of losses and inheritance. Over the next week, my parents reclaimed their home. Veronica found a modest rental with a sunny kitchen. When Derek resisted Dad’s help with its deposit, Dad insisted. GetParenting Tips
“This is help,” he explained. “Not control. Learn the difference.”
Derek accepted. I prolonged my stay, working remotely to understand my family beyond the financial records. On the back steps one evening Veronica brought up the words I’d overheard through the window.
“We’re in
