“My curling iron just died.”
Mom reached for her phone.
“I’ll contact the rental company.”
Then she frowned.
“The router is off too.”
I leaned back against the couch.
“Cell service around here is pretty bad without Wi-Fi.”
Emily stared at me.
“Did you do this?”
I gave her a calm look.
“Do what?”
“James.”
“Well, I did speak to someone about the utilities. They’re under my name.”
The room became completely silent.
Todd turned toward me.
“What do you mean, under your name?”
I stood.
Picked up my bag.
Then pulled the only physical set of keys from my pocket.
“I guess if I didn’t contribute anything, I probably shouldn’t be responsible for keeping everything running either.”
Mom immediately frowned.
“James, stop acting like a child.”
I looked at her.
“I paid for the rental. I paid the deposit. The utilities are mine. I bought most of the groceries. And after all of that, the three of you held a vote without me and decided I belonged on the couch.”
Emily rolled her eyes.
“It’s one week.”
“Exactly.”
I headed toward the door.
Mom followed me.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere with a bed.”
I stepped outside.
Behind me, Emily called,
“You can’t just leave us here!”
But I was already walking toward my car.
I started the engine.
Then I sat there for a few minutes.
I could see them moving around through the windows.
Todd walked onto the porch holding his phone in the air as though raising it another two feet might magically create a signal.
Emily went from room to room checking switches.
Mom stood near the doorway staring toward my car.
Then Emily marched barefoot down the driveway.
She knocked sharply against my window.
I lowered it.
“Okay,” she said. “You made your point. Turn everything back on.”
“Everything?”
“The electricity. Wi-Fi. AC. All of it.”
