Chapter 2
Claire held the phone so tightly behind her back that I could see her arm shaking.
Dad lowered his hand.
“I’m going to call the account company,” he said. “You can tell us the truth while I’m on hold.”
Claire’s eyes moved to me. “Maya, go inside with Brooke.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand that my account is empty.”
She looked away first.
Dad called the number on my screen. He put the phone on speaker while we stood in the driveway.
The automated voice asked for his account information. He entered it. After several minutes, a woman answered.
Dad gave his name and asked about the withdrawal.
I listened as he confirmed his identity. I watched him press his free hand against the hood of Brooke’s car to steady himself.
“The entire balance?” he asked.
The woman’s answer was loud enough for me to hear.
The funds had been transferred into a joint checking account in Dad and Claire’s names the previous afternoon. The request had been made through Dad’s online login.
“I didn’t request it,” he said.
The woman told him she could mark the transaction as disputed and restrict further access. She could not put the money back that afternoon.
I leaned against the fence.
Dad had always paid into that account. My mother had put money in when she was alive. Grandma Ruth had sent small checks at birthdays until her hands became too unsteady to write them.
I used to ask Dad how much was in it. Lately, I had been checking for myself. Seeing the balance rise made college feel possible.
Yesterday it had all gone into an account Claire could use.
Dad ended the call and dialed our bank.
Claire spoke before anyone answered.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?” Dad asked.
“After the party.”
“You bought the car this morning.”
“Yes.”
“And the rest?”
Her phone buzzed behind her back.
Brooke looked at her. “Mom, please.”
Claire brought the phone forward to silence it. A message flashed across the screen before she could turn it away.
I saw only a few words.
Escrow received.
Friday closing.
Dad saw them too.
“Closing on what?”
Claire locked the screen.
“An investment.”
“With Maya’s money?” he asked.
“I intended to replace it.”
I had heard her say that before, usually after borrowing a sweater or taking the last of something I had saved. She rarely replaced those things unless Dad noticed.
“Ninety-two thousand dollars,” I said. “How were you going to replace that?”
Her mouth tightened. “I’ve worked for years, Maya.”
“So have I.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Brooke picked up the car keys and held them out to her mother.
“Take it back.”
Claire stared at her. “You wanted this car.”
“I wanted a car you and Dad could afford.”
“The dealer won’t just take it back because you feel guilty.”
“Then I won’t drive it.”
Claire left Brooke’s hand hanging between them.
Dad turned away to speak to the bank. He reported the transfers and asked for the joint account to be restricted while they reviewed what had happened.
I caught pieces of the conversation. Yesterday’s deposit. A payment to a car dealership. A transfer to a real estate escrow company.
The rest of the money was still there, somewhere.
That gave me a breath of hope.
Then I remembered it was Thursday. Friday was tomorrow.
Dad asked the bank for the escrow company’s name and transfer reference. The person on the line told him how to request the records. He wrote everything in his notes.
Claire watched him.
“You’re reporting your wife to the bank?”
“I’m reporting what happened.”
“You’re going to destroy our family over a transfer?”
Brooke made a small sound beside me.
Dad raised his eyes. “Claire, stop.”
I walked toward the house. I needed to sit down, but I did not want anyone to see my knees give way.
In the kitchen, birthday plates covered the counter. Someone had left a slice of cake with my name written in blue icing on a paper napkin. Brooke had saved it for me because I had been helping carry things all afternoon.
I sat at the table and stared at it.
Brooke came in behind me. She placed the Mustang keys on the counter as if she never wanted to touch them again.
“I swear I didn’t know,” she said.
“I believe you.”
She sat opposite me. “Do you think I should have asked where the money came from?”
“You’re sixteen. She told you it was a birthday present.”
“I kept saying it was too much. She said we could finally afford it.”
I looked at her. Her birthday makeup had smudged beneath one eye. She rubbed at it angrily.
Dad entered a few minutes later. Claire followed him, still holding her phone.
“I’ve called a lawyer,” Dad said. “Renee is coming tonight.”
Aunt Renee was my mother’s sister. She was also the person Dad called when he needed someone to tell him the truth.
Claire’s face changed.
“You called Leah’s sister?”
“She’s an attorney,” Dad said.
“She has hated me since the day we met.”
“I called her because Maya needs help.”
Claire turned toward me.
“Tell him you don’t want the whole family pulled into this.”
I looked at the cake, then at the keys on the counter.
“I want my money back.”
Claire nodded once, as though I had confirmed something she already believed about me.
“That’s all you care about.”
Brooke stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
“No, Mom. You don’t get to say that.”
Claire looked stunned. Brooke had rarely challenged her in front of Dad.
He stepped between them without touching either of them.
“Claire, I need you to tell me what Friday’s closing is.”
She glanced at the back door.
“An opportunity,” she said.
Dad waited.
“For a house.”
The room fell silent.
“A house for whom?” I asked.
Claire did not answer me.
Her phone buzzed again. This time she looked at it, and I saw her fear return.
Dad held out his hand.
May you like
Claire turned the screen facedown on the counter.
“I can explain,” she said.
