Marisol called before I had even reached the highway. The oil company would not schedule another delivery because my automatic payment had been canceled. Then Dashiell discovered the homeowners insurance was ending unless he opened a policy in his own name. By noon, the internet, furnace-maintenance contract, and several other household services had all become his responsibility too. Nothing had been damaged or sabotaged. I had simply stopped paying expenses for a house I no longer legally owned.

“You can’t just walk away from everything,” Marisol snapped.

I almost laughed. “You told me I was renting one bedroom for $1,100 a month. Tenants don’t normally pay the owner’s property expenses, buy everyone’s groceries, clean the house, and provide free childcare.”

Within days, Dashiell finally saw the real numbers. Taxes, insurance, heating, repairs, utilities, food—the “burden of homeownership” Marisol claimed they carried had mostly been coming from my account. I emailed him years of payment records so there could be no confusion.

Two weeks later, Dashiell called me at the Vermont condo.

“Mom, can we fix this?”

I looked out at the lake and took another sip of coffee.

“You already fixed it,” I said. “You made me a tenant.”

Then I ended the call and enjoyed the first quiet morning I had paid for only myself.