Someday his children will spend summers here.
Maybe I had spoken of his future inheritance so casually that he had started treating it like a present asset.
Margaret gave me one piece of advice.
“Do not promise an inheritance just to repair a relationship.”
That evening, Ashley’s parents, Patricia and Howard, arrived.
They had been assigned Fourth of July week.
I did not invite them inside.
They told me Bradley was under enormous financial pressure.
I asked one question.
“Did you pay Ashley for your July stay?”
Both froze.
“How
