He Kept Me on a $1,800 Allowance and Called Me a Kept Housewife. He Never Checked Who Held the Deciding Vote on the Company He Was Trying to Buy

The soup was not about the mortgage.

The soup was about keeping me small enough to manage.

I understood that, standing in his office doorway, more completely than I had understood anything in years.

Chapter 3 — Carry On

Barrett slammed the laptop shut — far too late — and rounded on me.

“What are you doing here?”

Not are you all right.

Not I’m sorry.