PART4

“At my hotel.”

“Which hotel?”

I told him.

There was a pause.

“Amber and I are at the airport hotel. We couldn’t get into the resort, and the other places we’ve checked are ridiculously expensive.”

“I see.”

“Mom, can you please help us?”

I took a sip of coffee.

“With what?”

“The resort. We need somewhere to stay. Everything is booked or costs too much.”

I looked out at the ocean.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

He became irritated.

“Mom, come on. You know we can’t afford another five thousand dollars for a week.”

“Then perhaps you should shorten the trip.”

“We can’t just go home!”

“Why not?”

“Because we’ve already told everyone we’re going to Cabo!”

I put my coffee down.

That was interesting.

He wasn’t worried about losing the vacation.

He was worried about explaining why it had changed.

“Bradley, I have a question.”

“What?”

“Did you tell your friends that I paid for this trip?”

Silence.

“Mom, that’s not important right now.”

“It is important to me.”

He exhaled.

“Amber told people we were treating ourselves.”

I closed my eyes.

“Treating yourselves?”

“She didn’t mean—”

“Did you correct her?”

Another silence.

“No.”

I nodded slowly.

“Thank you for answering.”

“Mom, please. We can discuss all of this when we get home. Right now, we just need you to help us get settled.”

“Bradley, you and Amber are adults. You can arrange your own accommodation.”

“Are you seriously going to leave us like this?”

I looked at the photograph of Tom.

“No, son. I’m leaving you to take responsibility for yourselves.”

Then I ended the call.

By lunchtime, I had received another message from Amber.

This time, it was longer.

Carol, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to understand that Bradley and I have worked incredibly hard. We don’t have the money you have. You have your house, your savings, and your retirement income. We were counting on this trip to give us a break.

I read it twice.

Then I noticed something.

She hadn’t mentioned once that she was sorry for what she had said at the airport.

Not once.

I didn’t respond.

Instead, I opened my banking application.

I reviewed the last eighteen months of transactions.

There were payments for Bradley’s car insurance.

There were two mortgage payments I had helped cover.

There were furniture purchases.

There were restaurant bills.

There was a $1,200 payment for a medical expense that Bradley had said his insurance wouldn’t cover.

There were several transfers to Amber for what she called emergencies.

When I added everything together, the number was much larger than I expected.

I sat back.

Almost $31,000.

Thirty-one thousand dollars.

That didn’t include the twelve thousand dollars for the Cabo vacation.

I had given them more than forty thousand dollars over the previous year and a half.

And somehow, I had become the selfish one.

I opened my contacts and found the number of my financial adviser, Daniel.

I called him.

“Daniel, it’s Carol.”

“Good morning, Carol. How are you?”

“I’m well. I need to schedule an appointment.”

“Of course. Is everything all right?”

I looked toward the ocean.

“Everything is better than it has been in a long time. I think it’s time we reviewed my financial arrangements.”

He paused.

“Certainly. What would you like to review?”

“Automatic payments, authorized users, and any financial arrangements connected to my son.”

“Understood. I can prepare everything for tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

After hanging up, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Relief.

Meanwhile, Bradley and Amber had found a modest hotel near the airport.

It was clean, but it wasn’t the oceanfront suite Amber had spent weeks showing off on social media.

The following morning, Amber posted a photograph of the airport hotel lobby.

Her caption read:

Sometimes people show you their true colors when money is involved.

I didn’t comment.

But one of her friends did.

Wait, wasn’t Carol paying for the entire Cabo trip?

Amber deleted the comment within minutes.

Unfortunately for her, another person had already taken a screenshot.

That person happened to be my niece, Susan.

Susan called me that afternoon.

“Aunt Carol, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.”

“I saw Amber’s post.”

I sighed.

“I imagine you did.”

“She’s making it sound like you abandoned them.”

“I didn’t abandon anyone. I simply stopped paying for their vacation.”

Susan was quiet for a moment.

Then she said something that surprised me.

“Aunt Carol, can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, but I didn’t want to interfere with your relationship with Bradley.”

My stomach tightened.

“What is it?”

“Amber has been telling people that you’re financially dependent on Bradley.”

I frowned.

“What?”

“She says he helps you with your expenses because you’re getting older. She tells people that you sometimes become confused about money and that he has to handle your financial decisions.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

“That’s not true.”

“I know. That’s why I wanted to tell you.”

Susan continued.

“She even told my mother that Bradley would probably inherit your house soon because you were planning to downsize.”

I gripped the phone.

My house.

The home Tom and I had spent thirty years paying for.

The home where Bradley had grown up.

The home where I had sat beside Tom during his final days.

Why would Amber tell people that?

I thanked Susan and ended the call.

For several minutes, I sat completely still.

Then I remembered something.

Three months earlier, Bradley had asked me to sign a document.

He said it was related to updating his emergency contact information and making sure he could help me if I ever needed assistance.

I had trusted him.

I had signed it without reading every page.

My stomach twisted.

I immediately called Daniel.

“Daniel, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course.”

“Have I ever given my son legal authority over my finances?”

There was a pause.

“I don’t see any active power of attorney registered through our office, Carol. But I would recommend reviewing the documents you signed.”

“I think I need to do that.”

“Then I suggest speaking with an attorney as soon as possible.”

I thanked him.

Then I called a lawyer named Margaret Lewis, whom Tom and I had used when we updated our estate documents years earlier.

She agreed to meet me the following morning.

And that was when I discovered that the airport incident was only the beginning of something much bigger.

Because the document Bradley had asked me to sign wasn’t simply an emergency contact form.

It was connected to a financial arrangement he and Amber had been planning for months.

And when Margaret finally read the paperwork, she looked up at me with an expression I would never forget.

“Carol,” she said quietly, “I think we need to discuss exactly what your son has been telling people about your financial situation.”

I felt my heart begin to race.

“What do you mean?”

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART5…