The Grownup recap

An unnamed grifter moves from sex work into fraudulent psychic readings after injuring her hand. Susan Burke, a wealthy client, hires her to cleanse an old house that Susan believes is corrupting her teenage stepson, Miles. The narrator expects an easy, profitable deception, but disturbing signs in the house and Miles's unnerving knowledge of her background make the assignment harder to control. Susan describes Miles as a threat to her young son; Miles counters that Susan is unstable and dangerous. During the final crisis the narrator takes Miles away from the house. His later changes of story reveal that he engineered at least some of the apparent haunting and has been manipulating both women. The supernatural question and Susan's reliability remain unresolved. Recognizing in Miles a younger and more alarming version of her own talent for deception, the narrator stays with him for the immediate future in a wary alliance rather than ending with a clean solution.

An unnamed woman who makes a living by understanding what customers want shifts into fraudulent psychic work after repetitive strain injures her hand. Susan Burke consults her about an old Victorian home, claiming that the building has changed her teenage stepson, Miles, and may endanger her younger child. Seeing a wealthy client she can exploit, the narrator sells Susan a program of spiritual cleansing and begins visiting the house. The place produces unsettling signs, while Miles calmly exposes the narrator's dubious background and offers his own account in which Susan, not he, is dangerous. Susan and Miles each present evidence that makes the other seem capable of harm, leaving the narrator unable to separate performance from genuine threat. In the final confrontation she removes Miles from the house. Away from Susan, his shifting stories reveal that he staged or manipulated at least some of the apparent haunting. The narrator still cannot prove which claims were true. Aware that Miles is a dangerous deceiver whose methods resemble her own, she remains with him for the moment in a guarded, unresolved alliance.

At the house, the narrator is forced to choose between Susan's claim that Miles is a danger and Miles's claim that Susan is the real threat. She leaves with Miles, removing him from the immediate confrontation. Once they are away, however, his shifting explanations and calculated behavior show that he has manipulated both women and arranged at least part of what looked supernatural. That discovery does not prove that every disturbing event was staged, nor does it make Susan's version wholly reliable. The narrator finishes the story with no secure answer about the house or either Burke. She understands that Miles is a gifted and potentially dangerous deceiver, but she also recognizes the techniques he uses because her own life is built on related skills. They remain together for the moment in an uneasy pairing, each watching the other and neither able to claim complete control of the story.