Chapter 2 — The Money Was Needed Elsewhere

Before I could answer, footsteps came from behind us. My husband, Travis, stepped out of the bedroom in sweatpants and a brand-new football jersey.

He’d been out of work for almost eight months, though he preferred to call it “waiting for the right opportunity.” He leaned in the doorway as if the whole scene amused him.

“No need to interrogate her,” he said. “The money was needed somewhere else.”

My father faced him. “What money?”

Travis crossed his arms, wearing the look of a man announcing an act of generosity. “I gave her paycheck to my mother.”

The kitchen went silent.