Chapter 1

At his niece's birthday party, I had barely handed over the learning tablet before my mother-in-law snatched it away and tossed it aside.

"Didn't you say you were buying Jared Abbott a gold bracelet? Who'd want this thing?"

My sister-in-law chimed in. "Right. If you say you'll do something, you do it. Otherwise don't say it at all."

I looked at my husband, Kent Pruitt. He was the one who'd brought up the gold bracelet in the first place.

Right now he pulled out a chair and sat down as if none of it had anything to do with him.

The mood in the room had gone strange. There was quiet muttering here and there. No one said a word for me.

Only Aunt Meredith stepped in to smooth things over. "Jared's still a student. A learning tablet from her aunt is very practical."

My mother-in-law wouldn't let it go. "I didn't say it wasn't practical."

With so many people around, I didn't fight her head-on. I just posted a message in her family group chat.

......

"Kent Pruitt, you're the one who ran your mouth back then. Why aren't you coming out to make good on it now?"

I tagged Kent directly. I saw his hand tighten around his phone, but he didn't turn to look at me.

If this had ended here, if none of them had said another word, I'd have told myself to let it slide. But Cicely Head wasn't finished.

Kent ignored me, and that was more than she could stand.

Cicely tagged me. "Anita Mason, don't go pushing this onto my son. Every cent my son earns ends up with you. Even if he didn't buy it, that's on you."

Look at that. Have you ever seen a mother-in-law this unreasonable?

"Every year Kent bought Jared a birthday present. She's fourteen now, and he never missed a single year. This is the only year he didn't, and that's because money's tight for him, all because you've got too tight a grip on everything."

Now I finally understood. When he bought a gift, her uncle was being thoughtful. The one year he didn't, her aunt became the villain.

The truth is, I'd been waiting the whole time to see where Kent stood. One word from him for me, and I'd have stopped there.

But Kent stayed silent, as though he'd never been in the chat at all.

Cicely still wouldn't let up. "Anita, hurry up and make good on Jared's gold bracelet. The child's been crying this whole time."

Whether that was true or not, I had no idea. But my disappointment in Kent had become total. That much was real.

I didn't post any more messages. Instead I sent a few screenshots, all chat records between Kent and me from the past few days, every one of them me reminding him of things he needed to do. Mostly household matters, though now and then his work too.

I fired several into the group, one of them the message where I reminded him Jared's birthday was coming up.

To that birthday reminder, Kent had replied: Where would I find the time to prep a birthday present? Just grab something for her.

I'd also reminded him about what he'd said about buying the gold bracelet. Kent replied: That was a joke at the time. Don't take it to heart. You handle it.

As these chats came out one after another, the group went noticeably quiet. But I knew this was only the quiet before the storm.

Then, while I was still staring at the group messages, a notice came through that I had been removed from the group.

I'd been kicked out?

The one who'd kicked me out was none other than my mother-in-law, Cicely.

Fine. So she was afraid I'd expose more of what had happened before.

I let out a short laugh. This was fine too. It wasn't as if I'd had any presence in that group anyway.

As for whether Kent said anything afterward, I no longer cared to know.