“I doubt the two of you have ever tasted water this expensive. Go on, tell me if it's sweet.”
Mom and Dad stood frozen, cups raised, unable to move forward or back.
“Aaron, I've still got things to do. If there's nothing else, maybe you'd better head out.”
The dog barked at me twice.
Philip smiled and stroked its head. “Good girl, Mimi. No need to pay any mind to people you don't know.”
I clenched my fists, my chest aching until it went numb.
“Aaron, why don't we just go.”
Mom tugged me out the door. I didn't dare lift my head, afraid the tears would fall.
The moment the elevator doors slid shut, I saw Philip bend down and mop, slow and thorough, over the exact spot where my parents had been standing.
As if we were something filthy.
“It's fine if we take a little grief. As long as you and Delilah build a good life together, that's all that matters.”
Mom pressed a bank card into my hand. “Take this for Delilah's father's treatment.”
My nose stung sharp and hot. I forced out a thin smile and got my parents settled.
After wrestling with it a long while, I sent the realtor a message.
“Can you give me a valuation on this place at current market rates? I want to sell.”
By the time I got home, Delilah still wasn't back.
Philip had just posted a nine-photo grid on social media.
“Feeling down, so the boss took me for a drive along the river. Fireworks that speak her heart.”
I killed the screen and sat staring at the photo of the two of us on the nightstand.
Delilah and I had come seven years together since college, and we'd planned to marry this year.
Then her father got cancer, and she took back the deposit on the house.
On top of the original engagement payment of $18,800, she demanded another $58,800.
When my parents found out, they didn't say a word.
The next day, they set their savings passbook in front of me.
It was the money they'd saved their whole lives, meant for their retirement.
“We're old now. We can't do much for you. All we can give you is a stable home.”
I didn't want to shortchange Delilah, so I still booked a five-star hotel.
For that I pinched every penny, wouldn't even spring for a coffee.
And she turned around and blew over a hundred thousand on fireworks for some secretary.
My chest felt packed with a wet wad of cotton, nothing moving up or down.
Half-asleep in the dead of night, the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open, the light snapping on hard enough to sting my eyes.
Delilah hauled me upright, heedless of everything.
“Philip was kind enough to keep an eye on the renovation for us, and you turn around and question him?”
She didn't ask where I'd settled my parents. She didn't care that I'd been sound asleep.
Every last thought in her head was for poor, wronged Philip.
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose.
“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that what you call turning my clean, simple style into some influencer showroom?”
“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that moving in like a cuckoo and making my guest room into his bedroom, and my parents' room into a dog kennel?”
“All my door access and every smart-home permission are his now. Since when do I have to make an appointment just to come back to my own home?”
Delilah stiffened her neck, self-righteous.
“Philip's redesign looks so much better. You're the one with the stale, old-fashioned taste.”
“Besides, your parents don't come around often, and Philip lives far away. When he works late it's a hassle to get home, so what's the harm in keeping a room for him?”
“They're all small things. Can you please stop nitpicking over every little detail?”
“Because of you, Philip was miserable all night. Find some time, and apologize to him properly.”
My chest was jammed tight, my throat like something had it by the neck.
Seeing my reddened eyes, Delilah softened her tone.
“All right, don't act like you've suffered some enormous injustice.”
“This is a gift for your parents. If you're free tomorrow, let's all have a meal together.”
Inside the gift box lay a string of pearls and a tie of unremarkable quality.
