My Parents Chose the Caregiver Over Me

I decided to make an early return home for the long weekend to surprise my parents, but when I got up, I realized my keys could not unlock the door.

I tried multiple times again, but the lock refused to budge, and that was when it dawned on me that the locks to the house had been changed.

Left with no other choice, I called my mother's phone. It rang for quite a while before she finally picked up, and I could hear noises in the background that sounded like she was on a busy street.

She said over the phone, "Hello? Charlie? Why are you calling me?"

"I'm home, Mom. I'm right outside the door, and I can't get in. Why did you change the locks?"

It took a few seconds for my mother to answer, "Oh, you're home. Your dad and I are out shopping with Harry. Wait for us outside the door. We'll be home soon."

Before I could say anything, she hung up. I stood at the staircase with my luggage and waited for an hour before I finally heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

I looked up to see my parents with their caregiver, Harry Lambert, walking intimately between them. He had his right hand around my mother's arm and was helping my father with his shopping bags with his left hand. They were chatting happily away as if they were a family of three.

When they arrived at the door and saw me, none of them looked surprised. All my father did was glance at me, while my mother mentioned nonchalantly, "You're back."

Harry was the one who released my mother's arm right away and approached me with a happy smile. "You're back, Charlie. Why didn't you say anything about coming back? We would have gone to pick you up."

My lips twitched as I nodded rigidly while looking at the lock, and I asked, "When did you guys change the locks? Why didn't you tell me about it?"

Harry quickly explained, "The locks were changed a month ago because the original ones weren't working well, and it isn't safe, especially when Harold and Sandra are elderly. It would be horrible if something happened to them, so I got someone to change the locks. Sorry, we didn't manage to inform you in advance, Charlie."

Before I could reply, my father scoffed. He pushed the door open and said unhappily, "You don't even come back for Christmas. There's no difference to you even if we changed the locks."

I knew that my father was still upset that I was not home for the holidays, and he needed somewhere to vent his dissatisfaction. I did not want to argue with him the moment I came home, so I said nothing and followed them into the house.