I deleted every voicemail without answering. During those same two weeks, I met with my attorney and explained exactly what had happened on Christmas Eve, along with one detail my parents had apparently forgotten.
The house they lived in belonged to me.
Seven years earlier, my father’s bad investments had left my parents facing foreclosure. I bought another house for them, kept the property and mortgage entirely in my name, and paid the taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance while they contributed nothing toward ownership.
There was no lease. Legally, they were tenants at will.
My attorney prepared formal notice requiring them to vacate within sixty days. Instead of delivering it myself and giving my mother another opportunity to manipulate the conversation, I had a process server take the papers directly to their door and obtain a signature.
Three hours later, my phone began ringing.
I ignored the first five calls. On the sixth, I answered and immediately had to pull the phone away from my ear.
