After dinner, he asked his mother to sit down.
“Claire and I are moving to Colorado.”
Patricia smiled.
Not happily.
She thought he was joking.
“Colorado?”
“Denver area. I accepted the Mountain Region position.”
“How long will you be out there?”
“It’s permanent.”
Her water glass stopped halfway to her mouth.
Richard frowned. “What do you mean, permanent?”
“We’re relocating. Claire accepted a position in Aurora too.”
Patricia looked at me. “You too?”
“Yes.”
There were about three seconds of silence.
Then she said, “But your father has his procedure in November.”
That was her first thought.
Not our careers.
Not the house.
Not whether we were excited or scared.
November.
“You already said you’d take him,” she added.
“I did,” Mark said. “Before we knew we were moving.”
Richard put down his fork. “What about the house?”
For one hopeful second, I thought he meant ours.
He meant theirs.
“You usually winterize everything,” he said. “And your mother needs the gutters done.”
Then came the accountant, Patricia’s appointments, airport rides, lawn service, Richard’s car, and property-tax paperwork.
One item after another.
Neither parent had asked a single question about Denver.
Finally Patricia said, “I just don’t understand why you’d suddenly do this.”
“It wasn’t sudden.”
“You never said you wanted to move.”
“I turned this job down three times.”
Richard stared. “Three?”
Patricia answered before Mark could.
“Well, because moving away didn’t make sense.”
Mark looked at her.
“It didn’t make sense for you.”
Her face changed.
He reached beside his chair and placed a folder on the table.
Inside were contacts for a handyman, car service, lawn and snow companies, their accountant, a plumber, ride-share instructions, and a typed schedule of upcoming medical appointments.
Patricia flipped through it as though he had handed her deportation papers.
“You expect us to call strangers?”
“They’re businesses, Mom.”
“We have family.”
Mark paused.
“You have three children.”
“Your sisters live hundreds of miles away.”
“So will I.”
There it was.
She stared at him, and for the first time, I think she understood he wasn’t talking about an extended business trip.
Her face tightened.
“So this is about the anniversary.”
“The anniversary made me think.”
“I knew it. You’re angry about the money.”
“I’m not asking you to change the will.”
“Then why are you doing this now?”
