Chapter 7 - The Money Marked Groceries
I took a screenshot only after asking Mia.
Then I called my mother from the kitchen.
She answered brightly.
“Have you calmed down?”
“You don’t contact Mia again.”
“I wished her well.”
“I read the message.”
“Then you know she’s turning my own son against me.”
“This is my decision.”
“You’ll regret talking to me this way.”
“Maybe. You still won’t contact her.”
I ended the call.
My hand shook afterward.
Mia stood in the doorway holding Nico.
“Did you tell her I showed you?”
“I told her I read it.”
“She’ll say I’m reporting on her.”
“You don’t have to manage what she says.”
Mia glanced down.
“I’ve been doing it for weeks.”
That afternoon, while Nico slept, we sat at the table with our bank statements.
I wanted to know what help we could afford.
Mia wanted to know why there had been so little grocery money.
“There should have been plenty,” I said.
“How much did you transfer?”
I told her.
She looked up sharply.
“That much?”
“Every week.”
“To who?”
“Mom. She said she was doing the shopping so you could rest.”
Mia stared at me.
Then she went to the bedroom and returned with a small envelope.
Inside were receipts.
Rice. Eggs. Vegetables. Diapers.
Several had been paid with her own card.
“She told me you were short this month,” she said.
I opened the transfers again.
Each one carried the same note.
GROCERIES AND HELP.
For a moment, the numbers stopped looking like numbers.
They looked like the meals Mia had skipped while worrying that I couldn’t afford them.
“She said you were under pressure,” Mia continued. “That I shouldn’t make you feel worse.”
“Why didn’t you use our account?”
“I did, sometimes. Then she said we were getting close to the limit.”
Mom had known exactly which fear to use.
Mia didn’t want to burden me.
I didn’t want to question my mother.
Between those two things, Mom had built herself a comfortable place to sit.
I called her.
“What did you do with the money?”
“What money?”
“The grocery transfers.”
“I bought things.”
“Send the receipts.”
“You’re auditing your mother?”
“Yes.”
Her breathing grew louder.
“I gave up my time to stay there.”
“You said you were helping.”
“I deserved something for it.”
Across the table, Mia closed her eyes.
May you like
Then Mom said the thing that made me put the call on speaker.
“And if your wife had thanked me once in a while, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
