In the bank, we quickly learned that removing Aaron from my bank account was harder than I thought. While Claire might be the one who opened the account with me, Aaron was still listed as the third co-holder with equal rights as Claire and me. So, as long as Claire couldn’t provide the bank with a court order regarding his loss of custody over me, he would retain that access.
“Fine. I’ll trust you.” I said, as Claire gave me an apologetic look, and turned to the clerk. “Let’s open a new account for me with only my mother as a joint holder, and then transfer the money from my current account into the new one.”
While the clerk got to work, Claire grabbed my hand and even interlaced her fingers with mine. I could see her bottom lip tremble a little as her eyes were getting glassy. I had not expected this to mean so much to her. Not wanting an embarrassing emotional scene in public, I chose to squeeze her hand in an attempt to calm her down, but that only made it worse, as she let out a short uncontrolled chuckle! So, next I tried to distract her.
“Maybe you should open an account for yourself while we’re already here?”
The clerk perked up while Claire blinked at me.
“Why?”
“Well, according to Steve Harvey, every couple should have at least four accounts. A shared household account for the bills, a shared savings account for vacations and unexpected expenses, and two individual accounts for the partners to do as they like, so they won’t have to justify or explain every little personal expenditure.” I explained, and she looked at me in a mixture of amusement and amazement. “I just spent a whole week watching Daytime TV in the hospital, what did you expect!?”
That made her laugh.
“Okay, but what would I put into that account? The joint account with your fa ... with Aaron is basically empty.”
Huh. Did she just consciously avoid calling him my father? That was a nice gesture!
“Ah.” I said, as the Clerk immediately lost interest in our conversation, and pulled out my cash to hand her three-hundred dollars.
“What’s that for!?” she sounded genuinely confused. And more importantly, she didn’t even once glance at the eight-hundred Dollars I was still holding. She was simply wondering why I gave her money.
“Have you forgotten already? Being my nurse? That’s for this week.”
“Oh. Yes. Of course I haven’t forgotten.”
She very obviously forgot about it. Completely. I had wondered if she accepted my offer to pay her so eagerly because she had money trouble, or because it would mean she could definitely stay in my apartment to take care of me. I guess I had my answer right then.
I gave the remaining cash to the clerk to put into my new account, and told him to transfer almost all of my money from my current account into the new one as well. With that, I had $2,600 in the bank, safely out of Aaron’s reach, and once I got back home and could transfer the money from my paypal account, I was definitely able to pay the bills on the first and wait until my salary would come around.
As soon as we were back in the car, Claire reached over and took my hand again.
“Honey, I ... I just want to thank you for giving me a chance. I promise I won’t disappoint you again! I love you very much!” she smiled, and then looked at me with that expectant look I was growing accustomed to.
“Sure.” I responded lightheartedly, emphasized by a nod, and could see from her wavering smile it was not what she had hoped to hear.
What did she expect? I acknowledged her status as my mother and gave her a chance to not immediately screw me over again. She should realize herself that, while this was a long way off from love, it was already a lot better than what she could have expected a month ago.
“Then ... Do you ... need anything else?” she asked, her tone was distinctly less happy.
“Lowes.”
“Lowes? What for?” she asked, but started the car and pulled out of the parking lot without delay.
“They have canes. I want to get rid of the crutch.”
“Doesn’t the crutch work better than a cane?”
“Don’t know about that, but in Dr. House, it looked easier to handle than a crutch. I’ll also look less like I’m a total invalid.”
That got a look from her. First it was disapproving, but quickly turned into pity.
“Honey, no offense, but you’re barely able to wash yourself right now. So...” she let her voice trail off.
“I said ‘
While I entered the store, Claire opted to wait outside. I didn’t know why, but I suspected it was because she wanted to avoid the temptation to talk me into a more stylish crutch instead of a cane. I spent a good half hour there, accompanied by a quite eager sales clerk who appreciated my Dr. House reference much more than Claire had. Apparently I wasn’t the first one to ask.
When I came out of the store, Claire hastily ended a phone call.
“There you are. Honey, I’m sorry, but do you have anywhere else to go today?” she quickly asked, a little nervous.
“No, why? You got something planned?”
