“I know,” I said. “Humor me.”
The front door stuck the way it always had. I leaned into it with my shoulder. The familiar smell hit me the second we stepped inside — old carpet, lemon cleaner, something vaguely metallic from the pipes.
I helped her up the three steps into the kitchen.
And then I really saw it.
The tile beneath my feet was cracked in two places, grout darkened with years that never quite came clean. The cabinets — once white — had gone yellow at the edges, warped slightly from moisture. Wallpaper peeling at the corners, the pattern faded into something I couldn’t even remember choosing.
As a kid, it had just been home.
Now, after the Seaport and glass and stainless steel and views that cost more than this whole house?
It looked… tired.
Ma lowered herself into the chair at the kitchen table, the same one she’d sat at my whole life.
I swallowed hard.
“I’m staying,” I said.
Her head snapped up. “Ethan, no. You don’t need to?—”
“I’m staying for the weekend.”
She opened her mouth. Closed it. That look — the one she got when she hated needing help — crossed her face.
“I’ll order food,” I added. “You’re not cooking.”
“I can make soup.”
“You’re not touching the stove.”
I ordered delivery from the place she liked — nothing fancy, but warm and filling. I made sure she ate. Sat there until she finished half the container even though she insisted she wasn’t hungry.
I turned the TV on low. Charged her phone. Set it right next to her hand.
“I’m running out for supplies,” I said. “I’ll be back.”
“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly. “Ethan, no. I’m fine.”
I crouched in front of her chair, hands resting on my knees.
“You’re not fine,” I said quietly. “You fainted at work.”
She looked away.
“You should’ve told me,” I went on, the words coming faster now. “If I wasn’t sending enough money?—”
Her head snapped back toward me.
“I didn’t say that.”
“I would’ve sent more,” I said. “I can send more. I’ll take on another client. I’ll push for the promotion. I’ll find another job if I have to?—”
“Stop,” she said.
Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them.
