Page 71 of The Single Dad's Guide to Recreation

About that. I don’t think I can do this anymore. Be their caregiver 24-7.

I hold my breath as dots appear and disappear from my sister and brother for a few moments. Then they disappear altogether. Just as I’m about to start typing something like,Forget about it, it’s okay, I’ll figure it out,the phone rings, my sister’s face flashing on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Carol says. “Brad’s on too.”

“Hey, Aves,” my brother says.

They don’t say anything else, so I ask, “What’s up?”

“It’s late and we all have work tomorrow so I’m just going to say it. I think Mom and Dad should move to a retirement place.”

My brain freezes up because her words are not at all what I was expecting to hear. I hadn’t really thought about what we should do, I suppose. Just that I can’t do this anymore.

“You there?” Carol asks.

“Yeah, I just… but they’re not that old.”

“Not like a nursing home,” Carol says. “More like a community. They’d have their own house but it’d be smaller. And they’d have easy access to activities and maybe even doctor’s offices.”

“Can they afford something like that?”

“Carol called me over the weekend, and I’ve done some research,” Brad says. “There are a couple places just over the county line. They’d have to sell the house, of course.”

“I felt it out with Mom and Dad. They’re open to the idea,” Carol says.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“We just didn’t want you to think we were kicking you out,” Carol says. “Because, well, you’d have to move.”

“I’m only here because of Mom and Dad,” I say, hating that I sound like the bratty little girl they always complained about, but unable to be anything but defensive.

“Well, you did move in after everything went down in Atlanta,” Carol says. “And then you just stayed, so…”

Remembering my talk with Daisy, I sit up straight and speak slowly. “I stayed because they needed someone.”

“Does that mean you’d have somewhere to go if we sell?” Brad asks.

“I’d have to find a place.” My heart thumping with fear, worried that my brother and sister will think I’m complaining for no reason, I make myself add, “And prices have gone up. A lot.”

“I noticed,” Brad says. “That’s why Mom and Dad can afford to move. They’ll get a decent price for the house. Things are cheaper outside of town.”

I could move to the county too, I suppose. But I like being close to work. To my friends. And if I’m not going to be a doormat anymore, I need to stand up for myself.

“I’d like to be recompensed for the time I’ve spent taking care of our parents.” My voice is wobblier than I’d like, but I press on. “I haven’t minded doing it, of course, but it has, um, limited my career choices.”

After a beat that seems to last forever, my brother and sister talk at the same time.

“Oh, okay.”

“We could do that.”

“Like, what are you thinking?” Brad adds.

“I don’t know. Enough to help me with a downpayment on my own place.”

Brad and Carol bat around some ideas for a few moments before Brad sums it up by saying, “This is totally doable, Aves. I’m sorry we didn’t think of it before.”

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