“You coming home and demanding receipts is making everybody sick.”

“This is the house I grew up in,” I said.

“I pay thirty-six hundred dollars every single month to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid.”

“Maybe you ought to leave until he settles down,” Margaret said.

The hallway ceiling light buzzed in the silence afterward.

“What did you just say?” I asked.

“Only for a few days,” Margaret whispered, keeping her eyes on the folded cloth in her hands.

“A hotel down near the expressway.