Chapter 3 - THE HOUSE HER PARENTS THOUGHT WAS THEIRS
Robert and Diane came to Claire’s apartment that evening.
No lawyers.
Bad idea.
Robert started before sitting.
“We saved the factory.”
Claire stared.
“You forged my signature.”
“I did not sign your name.”
“Then who did?”
Silence.
Diane spoke.
“I thought Evan handled the documents.”
Claire looked at her mother.
“You knew I hadn’t signed.”
Diane’s eyes filled.
“I thought you were going to.”
“That is not the same.”
Robert slammed one palm onto the table.
“Do you know what happens if Hale Precision fails?”
“Yes.”
“Two hundred families.”
“That doesn’t make my house yours.”
Robert laughed bitterly.
“Your house?”
Claire stood.
“Yes.”
“I paid taxes on that place for twenty years.”
“You chose to.”
“I replaced the roof.”
“You chose to.”
“I rebuilt the deck.”
“You chose to.”
“We maintained it because we were family.”
Claire looked at him.
“And now you think maintenance became ownership.”
Robert stopped.
That was exactly what he thought.
Then he opened a folder.
Records.
Property taxes.
Insurance.
Repairs.
Renovations.
Over twenty years:
roughly $310,000.
Some paid before Claire became an adult.
Some after.
No reimbursement agreement.
But the amount was real.
Robert said:
“Your grandmother gave you the deed. She did not pay to keep the place alive.”
Claire felt a flicker of guilt.
Then anger at the guilt.
“If you thought I owed you, you could ask.”
“I knew you’d say no.”
There.
Diane closed her eyes.
Claire stared at her father.
“So you skipped the part where I decide.”
Robert’s voice softened.
“I was trying to save everything.”
Claire answered:
“You were trying to save what mattered to you using something that belonged to me.”
Then Diane whispered:
“There’s another thing.”
Claire turned.
Her mother looked terrified.
“Your father was looking at selling the beach house.”
Robert went still.
Claire’s face changed.
“Selling?”
Diane began crying.
“I told him not without you.”
May you like
Claire looked at Robert.
The refinance was no longer the whole betrayal.
