Life After the Million-Dollar Lottery

Ever since that day, it looked like Brian and Grace were finally starting to reflect on how they treated me. Now, they were even including me in house hunting for Logan.

"This place is pretty nice. It's big and bright. We could even stay here too," Grace said, clearly pleased as she looked around.

Grace completely ignored Flora's displeased look. I overheard Flora quietly ask Logan, "Didn't you say we wouldn't live with your parents after getting married?"

Logan didn't seem to care much, but noticing Flora's concern, he soothed, "Babe, my mom's just talking. She's not actually going to live with us."

I could tell Flora was nearly persuaded. That couldn't happen. I quickly interjected, "Oh, Mom, what are you talking about? Young couples today don't want to live with their in-laws." Then I turned to Flora and said, "Right, Flora?"

Flora's face fell again at my words.

Grace snapped at me, "Brat, always got to open your mouth, huh? I'll be there to help when she's pregnant and has kids. Flora, you'd welcome that, right?"

Flora, not too keen, replied, "Of course, Mrs. Watson. You're always welcome."

I caught the real estate agent Yvette's eye and gave her a look, signaling her to follow the plan we'd agreed on.

Picking up on my cue, Yvette quickly chimed in, "Mr. and Mrs. Watson, you've got great taste. This place has seen a lot of interest. It's a hot property."

Grace always loved flattery. She beamed, saying, "See? I always had a good eye. This house suits my son's style perfectly."

Inside, I almost burst out laughing. I thought, "What style does Logan have? He's a mid-twenties, jobless guy who lives off his parents. If anything, he's got a 'freeloader' vibe."

Yvette chimed in, ""Mrs. Watson, if you like the place, you could make a deposit today. Others are eyeing it too. It might be gone any second."

Logan and Flora got antsy. "Mom, what are you waiting for? Let's get the deposit down."

Grace winced, turned aside, and whispered, "We don't have the cash right now. Rebecca's lottery winnings haven't come through yet."

Logan threw a tantrum. He told Grace and Brian, "I don't care. I want to put the deposit down now. If we lose this house, it's on you.

How can you be so useless? I'm trying to buy a house, and you can't even fork over the money. What good are parents like you?"

Instead of getting angry, Brian just looked worried and started scrambling for solutions. "What do we do? The deposit is 100,000 dollars. Should we try to borrow some money?"

I offered a "helpful" suggestion. "Mom, Dad, why not mortgage our home in the meantime? Once my lottery money hits, we can just buy it back. It should be in my account within a month."

Logan's eyes lit up. "Exactly! Let's go home and get the property deed to get the mortgage started."

Grace was still hesitating. Logan snapped, "Don't you want to help? You just want to see me fail to get this house, right? If I can't marry Flora because of this, you'd be happy, huh?"

I snickered quietly, thinking, "What a great son you've raised, Mom."

Once Logan started his tantrum, there was no stopping him. Grace and Brian had no choice but to nod in agreement.

As we were leaving, Yvette really played up her part, calling out, "Mrs. Watson, better hurry. I can't promise this house will be available much longer."