I finally went out to the back porch to get some air. I had the printed rental confirmation sheet that Brittany had emailed to everyone weeks ago. I started looking at the numbers in the dim light of the porch bulb.

The paper said the house slept fourteen people. It had four bedrooms. But we only had twelve people in our group. So why was my mother sleeping on the floor?

I pulled out my phone, but the battery was at four percent. I found a yellow crayon on the outdoor table and started doing the math on the back of the rental paper.

Three hundred and eighty dollars from eleven different families. That came out to over four thousand dollars.

But the printout showed the total cost of the rental was only twenty-two hundred dollars.

I sat there in the dark, my hands getting cold. Brittany had pocketed nearly two thousand dollars of our family’s money.

I looked up the rental company’s number on the paper. It was five in the morning, but they had an emergency after-hours line. A man named Calvin answered on the third ring. He sounded tired, but he was polite.

I told him the reservation name. I asked him which unit we were in.

“You are in unit B,” Calvin said. “The three-bedroom.”

My brain stopped working for a second. “But the listing said four bedrooms.”

“No, ma’am,” Calvin said. “Unit A is the four-bedroom. Unit B is the smaller one. It is much cheaper.”

Then he checked the system again. “Wait, it looks like the master suite in unit B was never assigned. Your daughter-in-law requested the key for it, but she said it would remain empty for storage.”

I hung up the phone. I didn’t need any more math.

I walked back inside. I passed my mother, who was shivering slightly on that purple mat.

I walked right past her, up the stairs, and stood outside the master bedroom.

I didn’t knock softly. I banged on the wood until I heard Marcus groan inside.

The door opened. Brittany was standing there in her silk pajamas, looking sleepy and annoyed. Behind her, I could see a massive king-sized bed with plush white pillows. It was completely empty except for her and my son.

“What is going on?” Brittany whispered, squinting in the dim light.

“Pack your things,” I said. I kept my voice low so I wouldn’t wake the kids, but I made sure she heard every word. “You are leaving. Right now.”

Marcus came to the door, rubbing his eyes. “Mom? What is wrong?”

“Ask your wife,” I said. I tossed the paper with my yellow-crayon math onto their big bed. “She took two thousand dollars from this family. And she put your grandmother on a yoga mat so she could keep this room for herself.”

Brittany’s face went totally blank. She tried to say something about a booking fee, but her voice trailed off.