I didn’t know that.
“She doesn’t know me anymore,” Renee said. “I visit every Sunday. She thinks I’m a nurse.”
She held her mug in both hands.
“It costs nine thousand dollars a month,” she said. “Daniel and I pay for it. My brother doesn’t help. He lives in Oregon. He sends a card at Christmas.”
“Nine thousand a month,” I said.
“Since 2021,” Renee said. “We took out a second mortgage. Daniel’s been working seventy-hour weeks. I’ve been picking up extra shifts.”
She looked at me.
“When you moved in,” she said, “I was scared. I thought—I thought, this is going to be my mother again. Another parent we have to take care of. Another nine thousand a month someday.”
“So I started pushing,” Renee said. “A little at a time. The brochures. The comments. She lives here for free.”
She shook her head.
