Sunday morning was quiet.
I woke up later than usual.
For a few seconds, I didn't remember why I didn't have to get dressed immediately.
Then I remembered it was Sunday.
No walking route.
No Saturday truck route.
No mail waiting in the back of a vehicle.
Just my kitchen and a cup of coffee.
I stood near the refrigerator while the coffee brewed.
The retirement statement was still there.
The little pierogi magnet held it in place.
I looked at it.
Then I looked away.
Some habits were harder to break than others.
My phone rang while I was eating breakfast.
It was Jessie.
"Did you sleep?"
"A little."
She laughed.
"I kept thinking about last night."
"So did I."
There was a pause.
Then she asked whether I was upset.
I told her I wasn't.
That wasn't entirely true.
I was still bothered by the way Rance had behaved.
But I wasn't angry with her.
She had done nothing wrong.
If anything, she had helped me avoid another evening of pretending.
"You didn't have to stand up for me," I said.
"Yes, I did."
I smiled.
That sounded like Jessie.
She had always been stubborn when something mattered to her.
We talked for a few minutes.
She asked whether I had heard from the property manager.
I told her I hadn't.
The offer was still the same.
Rance wanted the building for $180,000.
I had declined it at dinner.
There wasn't anything else to discuss at that moment.
After we hung up, I washed my coffee cup.
Then I checked my phone again.
There were messages from people who had attended the dinner.
One of my coworkers had written that she hoped I enjoyed my birthday.
Another had sent a simple message.
"Didn't know you owned that building. Good for you."
I read it twice.
I didn't know what to say.
I wasn't accustomed to people congratulating me for something I had never discussed.
I replied with a thank-you.
That was enough.
Later that morning, RJ called.
He sounded tired.
"Mom?"
"Everything all right?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to check on you."
I sat down at the kitchen table.
He asked whether I was upset with him for inviting his father.
I told him no.
I meant it.
He had asked me honestly.
I had agreed honestly.
Neither of us could have known exactly how the evening would unfold.
"I didn't want that to happen," he said.
"I know."
"I thought he would just come, eat dinner, and leave."
I looked at the refrigerator.
The retirement statement was still beneath the magnet.
"Sometimes people bring their own problems into a room," I said.
RJ was quiet.
Then he asked whether I was going to sell the building.
I told him I hadn't decided anything.
He understood.
Before we ended the call, he apologized again.
I told him there was nothing he needed to apologize for.
He was my son.
I loved him.
That mattered more than one uncomfortable dinner.
Afterward, I went outside.
The morning was cool.
I had a few things to do around the house.
Nothing important.
I watered the plants and brought in the newspaper.
Then I sat on the porch.
Brookville was beginning another ordinary Sunday.
Cars passed.
Somebody down the street was mowing.
A dog barked twice.
I thought about Rance.
I wondered whether he was telling Vickie what had happened.
I wondered whether he was trying to understand how the company name on his lease had been connected to me.
But I didn't spend long thinking about it.
I had spent enough years worrying about what Rance thought.
I wasn't going to give him another Sunday.
That afternoon, I received an email from the property manager.
It was brief.
She acknowledged that I had declined the offer and asked whether I wanted her to take any further action.
I read it carefully.
Then I closed the message.
There was no emergency.
No deadline.
No reason to make a decision because somebody else wanted one.
For the first time in a long while, I allowed myself to leave a business matter unfinished until I was ready to deal with it.
It felt strange.
But it also felt good.
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: The Lease Had Carried My Secret for Nine Years, and I Finally Looked at Every Paper Without Feeling Afraid
The Birthday Toast That Made Twenty People Laugh, and the One Secret I Had Kept for Nine Years
Part 13 of 20
