The refrigerator hummed in the next room.
Farah set her coffee on the end table.
“I was going to talk to you.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
She exhaled.
“Before the reservation.”
“The reservation already exists.”
“I mean before they arrived.”
I looked at her.
For once, she did not fill the silence immediately.
Then she sat on the arm of the couch beside Theo.
“Look,” Farah said, “I know how this sounds.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“The cabin sits empty most of the year. You go up there, what, four or five times?”
“That isn’t the issue.”
“I’m trying to explain.”
“I understand what you’re explaining. I want to know why you advertised property you don’t own.”
Theo shifted.
“Mom, nobody was trying to steal your cabin.”
“I didn’t say you were stealing the cabin.”
“You said—”
“I haven’t accused either of you of stealing the property. I’m asking why strangers have paid to stay there.”
Farah folded her arms.
“Fine. We should have spoken to you first.”
“You did speak to me.”
She frowned.
“Not about this specific arrangement.”
“You asked whether I wanted to rent the cabin. I said no.”
“That was months ago.”
“Does my answer expire?”
Theo looked down at his laptop.
Farah shook her head.
“You’re making this sound much worse than it is. We set up the listing. We were going to manage everything. You wouldn’t have had to do anything. Cleaning, guest messages, scheduling. We would handle it and split the income with you.”
“You accepted money before telling me.”
“We wanted to prove there was demand.”
“You didn’t need to prove demand. I wasn’t interested.”
“Theo said you’d probably come around once you saw the numbers.”
My eyes moved to my son.
He immediately looked uncomfortable.
“I said maybe,” he muttered.
Farah gave him a sharp glance.
There was the weakness in their united front.
Not because Theo disagreed with her.
Because now that I was sitting in the room, he wanted his share of the decision to look smaller.
“The lockbox is gone,” I said.
Both of them became still.
Theo rubbed one thumb along the edge of his laptop.
Farah said, “We were going to switch to a coded box.”
“You removed mine?”
“It wasn’t damaged.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She took a breath.
“We needed a key.”
“To a property you had no authority to manage.”
“It’s your cabin, not Fort Knox.”
That sentence did more damage than the rest.
Not because it was loud.
Because she meant it.
To Farah, my attachment to the place was excessive and therefore negotiable.
It was just a cabin.
Just land.
Something sitting there unused.
I looked at Theo.
“Did you know she removed the lockbox?”
He hesitated.
Too long.
“Theo.”
“I knew she was getting the key.”
Farah turned toward him.
“Seriously?”
He closed the laptop.
“What? She already knows.”
“No,” I said quietly. “I didn’t know. Now I do.”
Theo leaned forward.
“Mom, we need the money.”