Chapter 5 - THE JOB FRANKLIN LOST
Dana came to Lisa’s house alone.
Lisa made her sit at the dining table.
Ethan stayed across from her.
No bedroom conversation.
No whispered family version.
The bank statements remained between them.
“When did Franklin lose his job?”
Dana stared at the papers.
“November.”
“Why did you tell me he was between projects?”
“He asked me not to embarrass him.”
Ethan laughed once.
“He hit me on a hospital floor and told me I was lazy.”
Dana’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“No. You knew before.”
She flinched.
“What happened at his job?”
Dana rubbed her palms together.
“There was an argument.”
“With who?”
“A supervisor.”
“What kind of argument?”
“He threatened him.”
Ethan sat back.
Franklin had spent eight months criticizing Ethan for being too sensitive, too tired, too young to understand responsibility while concealing the fact that his own temper had cost him his livelihood.
“Did he get another job?”
“Some cash work.”
“How much?”
“Not enough.”
“So you used my money.”
Dana looked down.
“I used the savings first.”
“You stole it.”
“My name was on the account.”
The words came out reflexively.
Dana immediately regretted them.
Ethan stared at her.
“That’s what you’re going with?”
“No.”
“You told me it was for school.”
“I know.”
“You told me every week.”
“I know.”
“Did Franklin tell you to take it?”
Dana’s answer surprised him.
“No.”
Ethan frowned.
“I did it first.”
Lisa turned toward her sister.
Dana covered her face.
“The mortgage was behind. Franklin kept saying he’d find something. I moved eight hundred dollars and thought I’d replace it.”
“And then?”
“There was always another bill.”
“Did Franklin find out?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“December.”
“And what did he say?”
Dana started crying.
“He said if you were living there, you should be helping anyway.”
Ethan looked at the statements.
“So the savings became rent.”
Dana whispered, “Yes.”
“But you kept telling me it was savings.”
“I was ashamed.”
That truth shifted the balance.
Franklin had exploited him.
But Dana had opened the door.
Not because Franklin forced her hand the first time.
Because she was afraid of admitting the family could no longer afford its life.
“How much of my money went to the mortgage?”
“Most of it.”
“And the truck?”
Dana looked up.
Ethan had noticed several transfers corresponding to Franklin’s pickup payment.
“That too?”
“Yes.”
Ethan stood.
His incision pulled painfully.
Lisa reached toward him.
He waved her off.
“I need you to leave.”
Dana started to rise.
“Ethan, please.”
“You watched him hit me.”
“I was scared.”
“And you watched him take my money.”
“I was trying to keep us from losing the house.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You keep saying ‘us.’”
Dana froze.
“I was the only person in that house who didn’t know what ‘us’ was costing me.”
She left crying.
Ethan did not follow.
But after the front door closed, he sat back down and stared at the transfers until every number blurred.
The hidden truth had surfaced.
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His mother had not merely failed to protect him from Franklin.
She had quietly turned Ethan into the financial protection she could not ask Franklin to become.
