A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: A Casserole at the Office

Bev's advice took one sentence.

"Stop being the one who pays, and keep paying only for what's yours."

By the end of lunch I had logged into the payroll portal and changed where my paycheck went.

Half still went to the joint account, enough for the mortgage and the bills.

The rest went to a new account at a credit union across town, with only my name on it.

It took four minutes.

I had spent seven years telling myself it would be rude.

Brady was already home when I got in that evening, sitting at the kitchen table with the lights off.

"Mom isn't angry," he said. "I called her. She says it's fine."

"Good."

"She just wants the money by Friday."

"I know. You said."

"So you'll do it?"

"No, Brady."

He rubbed his face.

"Maura, come on. It's six thousand dollars."

"Sixty-two hundred. And the other four hundred on the first of every month. Do you want me to say the total?"

He went still.

"What total?"

"Seventy-seven thousand dollars. Over seven years."

I had done the math at my desk with a calculator, twice.

"That's not how it works," he said. "It's family money. It goes back into the lodge."

"A lodge that's booked by strangers at four hundred and eighty a night."

"Who told you that?"

"The internet."

He opened his mouth and then shut it.

"Half my pay still goes to the mortgage," I said. "Your half and mine, the bills, the heat. I'm not walking out on any of that."

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