“That’s not fair, Brad,” Suzanne said defensively. “Derrick has a child to support. Matthew doesn’t.”
“I don’t believe for one minute that Derrick is supporting his daughter. Matthew is looking toward the future, but I think Derrick looks upon managing a sandwich shop as a career.”
She knew he was probably right. Matthew, who used to be every bit as much of a freeloader as Derrick, had developed ambition, while Derrick had not. But it was her entire family’s future that she was worried about. She decided to ask him straight out his intention as he turned the corner onto their cul-de-sac. “Brad, are you going to evict my mother?”
He sighed. “I guess that’s really not necessary. But the late fees will continue to accumulate every time she’s late.”
“Doesn’t that seem a little heartless, Brad? I mean, she is my mother.”
“Suzanne, you’ll recall how reluctant I was to let her rent the house in the first place. I warned her then that the agent would enforce every term of the lease, and that if she didn’t have the full amount of the rent in by the first of the month she’d have to pay a fifty-dollar fine, plus ten more dollars each day until she paid it. She said it would be no problem. You said it would be no problem.”
Suzanne did remember, but she could hardly admit it. Instead she recalled her mother pleading with her to get Brad to stop the late charges. She’d tried to get her mother to understand that they had a contract with the property managers, and that they were the ones who imposed and pocketed the late fees, not she and Brad. But her mother wasn’t having it and insisted that Brad could stop it if he wanted to.
“And now that there’s a problem you want me to forget about having warned her and just look the other way,” Brad pointed out as he activated the remote control for the garage door, then brought the truck to a stop next to the sports car parked inside. “This is precisely why you should never rent to family. So maybe you need to talk to her about getting some money out of Derrick and Kenya to help her get the rent paid on time.”
She stared straight ahead. Maybe that’s what she did need to do. Not only did she have to get the message across to Micheline Trent to lay off Brad, she also had to get her mother to start paying her rent on the first of every month.
Her nice, easy life was suddenly becoming a lot more complicated.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2008 by Bettye Griffin
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ISBN: 978-0-7582-1673-1
Once Upon a Project Page 39