“Why did you take money from our anniversary fund?” I asked.
His eyes shifted toward the screen.
“I know what the balance was, Chris. I’m asking why our anniversary fund paid for it.”
He pulled out a chair but remained standing.
“I’ll put it back after my bonus.”
“You spent it on your family’s dinner.
“We ate too.”
“I ordered soup and garlic bread.”
Chris rubbed the back of his neck.
“Of course it did. Serena ordered lobster, her husband chose the most expensive steak, and their kids added desserts. Then you handed me the bill.”
“You paid it.”
“Because you let everyone assume I would.”
He folded his arms. “They’re family.”
“So am I, Chris, but you keep choosing them over me.”
His expression tightened.
I shut the laptop.
“You took money I saved for us without asking me.”
“I said I’d replace it.”
“With your next bonus?”
“And what happens after the next dinner?”
He looked down the hallway.
That silence answered me.
“Your father’s birthday is the last family dinner I’ll finance,” I said.
Chris released a weary breath.
“We’ll talk when you’ve calmed down.”
“Come to bed.”
“I mean it.”
He walked away regardless.
I remained at the table, staring at the missing money while the secret plane tickets waited inside my desk.
He had no idea that he had spent part of our marriage.
The —following morning, I met my best friend Jenny for coffee.
She knew something was wrong before I even sat down.
“Chris took money from our anniversary account,” I said. “He used it to cover another family dinner.”
“Without asking?”
I nodded.
“Did you tell him about the tickets?”
“No. I needed him to understand the betrayal before I showed him what it cost.”
“And did he?”
“He told me to go to bed.”
Jenny listened quietly.
“That every time he says paying is easier, he means easier for everyone except me.”
“Then stop making it easy.”
I folded the napkin between my fingers.
“I already have.”
Before Henry’s birthday dinner, I stood before the mirror fastening my earrings.
