So I called her. “Could you come over?”
She sounded surprised. “Are you okay?”
“I need help with some paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
“For Walter.”
I’d been asking the wrong question all along.
“Of course. I’ll be there tonight.”
That reaction told me almost as much as the documents had.
And just like that, she’d made the next move for me.
***
Lisa arrived at seven.
Walter was upstairs.
I sat at the kitchen table wearing my new glasses.
She’d made the next move for me.
She noticed them immediately. “New pair?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Maybe no driving for a while, though.”
I smiled. “Funny you should mention driving.”
She stopped removing her coat. “What?”
I was wearing my new glasses.
“Why did you take my glasses?”
Her expression went blank. “I didn’t.”
The color drained from her face. “Video of what?”
“You opening my purse and putting my glasses case into your bag.”
Funny you should mention driving.
Lisa stared at me.
Then she sat down. “Mom…”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t what you think.”
“Then tell me what it was.”
I thought I knew where this conversation was going. I was wrong.
You putting my glasses case into your bag.
“I was worried about you.”
“So you stole the glasses I needed to drive?”
“You shouldn’t have been driving anyway!”
“Then why did you tell me to use the old pair?”
Silence.
I knew where this conversation was going.
I leaned forward. “Why were you preparing guardianship papers while I was unconscious?”
“Because somebody had to think about Walter!”
“I was alive.”
“You were in a coma.”
“For eleven days, Lisa. Not eleven years.”
I was worried about you.
Her jaw tightened.
I continued. “And why did you want him four years ago?”
“He’s my nephew.”
“Try again.”
“What do you want me to say?”
Somebody had to think about Walter!
“The truth.”
“I loved my brother.”
“So did I.”
“He trusted me.”
That sentence caught my attention. “Did he?”
He’s my nephew.
Lisa looked away.
I pulled the folder onto the table.
She saw the attorney’s letterhead.
Her face changed. “Recognize it?”
Lisa said nothing.
He trusted me.
“You knew what Daniel had arranged, didn’t you?”
Her eyes dropped to the folder.
That was answer enough.
I opened it. “When your brother died, he left a trust for Walter.”
Lisa closed her eyes.
There it was. The piece I’d been missing for four years.
