The days that followed were quieter than any I had known in years.
I planted vegetables in the little garden.
Fed the fish.
Got to know the other retirees in the compound, most of them around my age, warm and lively and far kinder than the family I had once given everything to.
Sometimes they invited me to play cards.
I was terrible at it.
They laughed, I laughed, and no one made me feel small for once.
Without the endless burden of chores, the hard lines in my face slowly began to soften.
Then one day, I went upstairs to grab something and found Jason standing inside my house.
He looked around with open disbelief, as if he still couldn’t process that I had truly left.
The second he saw me, his face darkened.
“Mom, everything at home is a disaster,” he snapped. “No one’s watching the kid. Lily’s exhausted. She doesn’t trust a nanny, my mother-in-law can’t help, and now she’s threatening divorce. On top of that, my company’s having problems. I asked Dad for a loan and he refused.”
I said nothing.
He kept venting like he was the victim in all this.
Only when he finally ran out of breath did I speak.
“Finished?”
He stared.
“Then get out,” I said. “This is my home. You have no right to be here.”
He looked stunned. “Mom, what happened to you?”
I almost smiled.
What happened to me?
I died.
That’s what happened.
In my last life, I raised his child so he could focus on work.
When his company ran into trouble, I sold the gold jewelry I had saved for retirement to help cover his losses.
And when I could no longer be useful, he discarded me without a second thought.
Now he shook his head and sighed as if humoring a difficult child.
“You’re still mad about Claire,” he said. “Look, even if you can’t compare to her, you’re still my mother. If you start helping out again, I’ll still take care of you when you’re old. Come home and apologize to Lily first. Then you can stay with us and help with Ryan.”
I shook off his hand before he could touch me.
“Jason Harrington, listen carefully. From this day on, I am cutting all ties with you.”
For the first time, real shock cracked through his expression.
At that exact moment, a few of the women from the compound came by to see me.
They heard the argument from the doorway and rushed in immediately, planting themselves in front of me like an army.
They scolded Jason so fiercely he turned red all the way to his ears.
He couldn’t very well fight a room full of senior ladies, so after throwing me one vicious look, he stormed out and slammed the door.
As soon as he left, I changed the entry code.
From then on, no one got in unless I wanted them to.
To thank the women who had stood up for me, I treated them all to lunch.
That was when I ran into Megan.
She walked over with her boyfriend on her arm, looked at me, and sneered.
“Wow. Living it up, huh? Because of you, I’ve had to order takeout every day lately. Having a mother like you is a curse.”
Before I could answer, she sat down at the next table and loudly told the server, “Bring us your most expensive dishes.”
Soon her table was covered in premium seafood, including a giant king crab.
I ignored her and kept chatting with my friends.
But when the bill came, I nearly laughed.
“Excuse me,” I said. “How much?”
The server repeated the number.
Then he showed me the itemized check.
Megan had ordered everything under my table number.
I set the bill down calmly.
“I don’t know that woman,” I said. “I’ll pay for my own table. But if I were you, I’d hurry. She looks like she’s done this before.”
The server’s face changed immediately.
By the time Megan and her boyfriend tried to slip out, they were stopped at the door and treated like dine-and-dash criminals.
The humiliation on her face was almost theatrical.
She looked at me like I was her mortal enemy.
I got up and walked away without a single backward glance.
In my past life, I’d cleaned her apartment and cooked for her every week because I felt sorry for her.
She had never once thanked me.
Once, when she was drunk, I overheard her tell a friend, “Sometimes I get sick just thinking one of my kidneys came from that old woman. I’m scared her bad genes are inside me.”
That was my daughter.
The girl I had cut myself open for.
If she was so disgusted by me, then fine.
She was free to go find herself a prettier, more educated mother.