“I need support too,” I whisper. “We had a plan. You told me we were a team.”
“We are!”
“Teams make decisionstogether.”
“She would’ve missed the lease if I waited. I knew you’d say no.”
“So instead you lied and kept it from me.”
He throws up his hands. “I didn’t lie. I acted. I made a judgment call. And yeah, I thought you’d understand. You send money to your family all the time.”
“That’snot the same, Sam. I use my personal account. Small amounts. And Itell you.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And I’m your wife.”
Silence.
“You’re telling me she matters more than I do?” I ask.
“No! Of course not?—”
“Well, you stole my money and gave it to Holly and Mandy. If she’s worth stealing from me, she must matter more.”
"It's not your money!" Sam shouts at me.
"Not anymore it isn't, it's Holly's now," I say, far calmer than I feel.
He’s breathing hard now, running a hand through his hair. “You’re blowing this out of proportion. We can save it back. We’re good at that. And I’ll help her get on her feet, and then?—”
“And then what?” My voice drops. “You get to be the hero. The savior. Thebig brother.While I eat discounted meat and clip coupons and hope you don’t make another decision without me. Anxiously checking our bank account to see when you would take from me again?”
His jaw tightens. “I didn’t steal it from you, it was ours!”
“If you really felt it was mine, why didn’t you ask?”
Silence.
“Let’s not forget what you said to Rick,” I add. “About the business and house being inyourname. That I’d be going nowhere.”
“That’s not how I meant it. You know I didn’t.”
“But yousaidit.”
“Come home,” he pleads. “We can talk through this.”
“I’m not going back toyourhouse.”
“Becca—”
“You took control of the money. But you don’t get to control me.”
I turn on my heel and stalk inside, shutting the door behind me like a punctuation mark.
Inside, the girls scramble to look casual.
“Really?” I deadpan. “You all look like raccoons caught in the trash.”
