It was rapid, hard, and demanding.
I opened it to find Sloan standing there with her arms crossed, her jaw set tight, flanked by Trevor, who was staring hard at his shoes.
“You completely humiliated me,” Sloan snapped, stepping inside before I even invited her in.
I calmly stepped aside and closed the front door behind them.
I didn’t offer them a seat.
I just stood in the entryway right next to the three plastic bins I had pulled from the garage earlier.
“You’re acting like a resentful child,” she continued, her voice rising. “You know perfectly well those vendors only trust your signature on file. Now nobody wants to service our party on such short notice. You ruined my event.”
“Your event?” I repeated, nodding slowly.
“Exactly. It’s your event, which makes it your responsibility.”
“Mom, please.” Trevor jumped in, taking a step forward. “Let’s not blow this out of proportion. Just pay the balances. And I swear to you, I will pay you back every single cent next month. Sloan is just really stressed out.”
I stared right at him.
My son, the man who would rather sacrifice his mother’s dignity than face his wife’s bad mood.
“I’m not blowing anything out of proportion, Trevor. Things are exactly the size that they are. You two decided to exclude me, so I decided to stop paying. It’s a simple financial transaction, not a soap opera.”
I gestured to the storage bins at their feet.
“By the way, I took some time to organize this afternoon. Here is your seasonal china and those silver candalabbras you bought last year. I need the space in my garage. Please take them with you now.”
Sloan opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
She looked at the boxes, then up at me, suddenly realizing that this argument was over before it had even begun.
Sloan quickly pulled herself together, grasping for her final trump card.
She stiffened her posture and glared at me.
“If this is just about money, Diane, we’ll pay you back. But you need to know that this damages our relationship irreparably. Don’t come crying to us to take care of you when you’re old and alone.”
I couldn’t help it.
A short, quiet laugh escaped me.
It was such an empty threat, and we both knew it.