Chapter 8 - THE THANKSGIVING CALL
A year after moving to Vancouver, I received a promotion.
I had begun as an operations coordinator and advanced to regional network manager after redesigning a routing system that reduced emergency freight delays across Western Canada.
I did not make “easy money.”
I worked long hours, managed customs problems before sunrise and spent weekends studying Canadian trade rules.
But for the first time, effort built my own life instead of subsidizing people who considered me temporary.
With my savings and the proceeds recovered from the Georgia settlement, I purchased a modest townhouse outside Vancouver.
It had two bedrooms, a narrow kitchen and a small balcony facing three maple trees.
On Thanksgiving morning, my mother called through FaceTime.
I almost did not answer.
Her face filled the screen.
“Your brother is short thirty thousand dollars for the down payment,” she said without greeting me. “He can’t get married without a proper house. You make good money out there, so wire it over. Everyone is counting on you.”
I turned the phone slightly so she could see the boxes stacked behind me.
“What are those?” she asked.
“I moved.”
“To another apartment?”
“I bought a house.”
She became quiet.
“Out there?”
“Yes.”
“You’re really staying in Canada?”
“For good.”
Her expression shifted from disbelief to offense.
“But your family is here.”
I looked through the glass doors at red maple leaves moving in the rain.
“No,” I said. “My relatives are there. My home is here.”
“Jenna, Jake needs—”
“Jake received more help than anyone in this family. He can buy what he can afford.”
“You have settlement money because we raised you.”
“I had settlement money because Grandma put my name on a deed and you tried to forge it away.”
She inhaled sharply.
“We’re still your parents.”
“You stopped using that word as a relationship a long time ago. You use it like an invoice.”
Then I said what I should have said in the Georgia living room.
“Do not call me about family money again.”
May you like
The silence lasted several seconds.
I ended the call.
