“Exactly.”

Marjorie immediately understood.

Even better, she still had the spare key Diane had given her years earlier.

“My grandson Luke is coming with me,” she announced. “He’s interviewing for warehouse jobs down there.”

“Bring him.”

“How long can we stay?”

I thought about Diane standing in my mother’s bedroom.

“Until Diane remembers that an empty house still belongs to somebody.”

Marjorie laughed so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

The Condo That Wasn’t Empty Anymore

On Monday afternoon, Mom asked me to stop by her condo for a mystery novel and a folder containing some financial papers.

I texted Ethan to tell him where I was going.

His reply came almost instantly.

“Don’t go. I’ll get them.”

That confirmed everything.

At 5:30, I drove to Mom’s building and entered using another copy of the key that Ethan didn’t know I had.

Before I reached the bedroom, I smelled Diane’s floral perfume.

Two suitcases stood open in the hallway.

My stomach tightened.

Inside Mom’s bedroom, her clothes had been removed from half the closet and piled across the bed.

In their place hung Diane’s jackets, dresses, and blouses.

She was opening one of Mom’s dresser drawers when I stepped into the doorway.

“Good evening.”

Diane spun around.

“Claire! What are you doing here?”

I looked around the room.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Her surprise disappeared quickly.

“Ethan said I could stay.”

“Ethan doesn’t own this condo.”

Diane waved one hand dismissively.

“Your mother isn’t using it right now.”

I looked at Mom’s clothing on the bed.

“Why did you empty her closet?”

“I needed space. I’ll put everything in boxes.”

Then she said something that changed the way I saw her forever.

“Claire, your mother’s getting older. At some point she may not even want a place this large anymore.”

My mother had been in the hospital only a few days.

Yet Diane was already rearranging her home as though Mom’s future had somehow become hers to decide.

I didn’t argue.

Instead, I pulled out my phone.

“I have something you should see.”

Marjorie had sent me a video twenty minutes earlier.

I pressed play.

There she was, smiling broadly from Diane’s living room.

“Claire, sweetheart, we’re all settled in! Tell Diane thanks for letting us use the place.”

Behind her, Luke carried two enormous canvas bags through the doorway.

“Put those potatoes near the pantry, Luke!”

Diane’s face changed.

“What is this?”

The video continued.

Marjorie turned the camera toward Diane’s guest bedroom, where several bags and suitcases were already stacked beside the bed.

“Luke can sleep in here, and I’ll take Diane’s room. We may stay a couple of weeks if his interviews go well.”

Diane grabbed my wrist.

“Turn that off.”

I did.

For several seconds, she simply stared at me.

Finally, she whispered, “What did you do?”

I slipped my phone back into my purse.

“Exactly what you did.”

The Difference Between Empty and Available

Diane’s voice rose immediately.

“Get her out of my house.”

I tilted my head.

“Why?”

“Because it’s my house.”

I waited.

The realization came slowly.

“That’s different,” she snapped.

“How?”

“Because I own that house.”

“And Mom owns this condo.”

For once, Diane had no answer.

She called Ethan.

I could hear his confused voice through the phone as she explained that Marjorie and Luke had moved into her home with luggage, groceries, and enough potatoes to feed half of Tennessee.

“How did they get inside?” Ethan asked.

Diane looked directly at me.

“They had a key.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Funny how dangerous spare keys can be.”

Twenty minutes later, Diane was throwing her belongings back into her suitcases.