I said, “I never told them to sleep in a parking lot.”
My father said, “School starts soon. They need stability.”
“Then the adults should have made stable decisions.”
My mother flinched like I had said something cruel.
That was always her trick.
The moment I stated a fact, she reacted as if facts were weapons.
Ryan asked if they could stay just for the weekend.
Kelsey refused to look at me while he asked, which told me everything.
She still believed asking was beneath her.
I agreed to one weekend, not because they deserved it, but because I refused to let innocent people be used as shields in an argument adults created.
I wrote the conditions on paper while Miranda listened on the phone.
No guests.
No social media posts from inside or outside the property.
No changing locks.
No mail forwarding.
No opening the detached carriage house.
No entering the primary suite or office after I secured them.
