For Seven Years I Sent Forty Thousand Dollars Every January, Until Emma Finally Spoke

Eleanor stared at me for a long time.

She didn’t yell and she didn’t cry.

She simply turned her back on me, walked out of the kitchen, and went straight upstairs to the guest bedroom.

I listened to the heavy door click shut on the second floor.

I stood alone in the kitchen for a very long time.

I picked up the blue checkbook and carried it down the hall into our bedroom.

I emptied my pockets onto the nightstand like I did every evening.