My Mother Told Me To Stay Behind While She Took My…

Grandma had always been the kind of woman people in town spoke about with a mixture of respect and disbelief. She had started out with a few coin-operated laundromats, the kind with buzzing fluorescent lights, folding tables, and vending machines that ate dollar bills. From there, she built the business into something much bigger, expanding into laundry detergents, household cleaners, and products that ended up on shelves in grocery stores across several states.

When Grandma decided to retire, she offered the company to my mom first. Mom turned it down. She said she did not want that kind of responsibility.

So Dad took over daily operations instead, and that was when everything slowly began to twist into something none of us knew how to stop. I remember the day it all started falling apart. I was in my bedroom trying to focus on algebra homework, my notebook open beside a half-finished glass of lemonade, when I heard Mom yelling downstairs.