“I earned three hundred dollars cash and brought it home to add to our pile.

We paid forty-one thousand five hundred dollars for this land, and every single dollar came out of our own arms.”

Judy looked down at her lap, her thumb rubbing the binding of her checkbook.

“We thought you were doing fine.

We thought you were capable.”

“We are capable,” Nate said.

“That’s why we don’t take handouts after the fact to make other people feel better about what they took.”

Ron cleared his throat, his palm sliding off Judy’s shoulder.