Chapter 3

She dropped a photo into the group chat: a whole table of seafood, plus that bottle of wine the restaurant sold for nine grand.

"All of this goes on your tab! Consider it your compensation to us!"

I looked at the photo in the group and couldn't help thinking my mother had truly lost her mind.

With the service charge, a meal like that wouldn't come to less than a hundred thousand.

"Mom, do you even know how much that table of food costs?" I couldn't hold it in, so I asked.

"Of course I know! It's your future sister-in-law's first visit. You expect me to skimp on the spread?"

"If you hadn't dumped the food, we wouldn't have had to come all the way to a five-star hotel."

"Today's meal goes straight on your tab, and I'll have them dock it from your wages! See if you ever dare to walk out on us again!"

My mother said it with total conviction, her voice full of the smug certainty that she had me right where she wanted me.

I called the manager at once. "Faith Gray, once the party's over, don't let them leave until they've paid. I'm not covering that bill!"

"What? Your parents are planning to charge it to you? That's going to be a lot of money!" Faith was stunned.

I gave her the short version of how it had all started, and she couldn't help getting worried.

"They're not going to skip out on the bill, are they? Dine and dash?"

"No. They've got over a million set aside to buy my brother a house. They can cover a hundred-thousand tab." I put her mind at ease.

"And one more thing. Process my transfer right now. The new place in Harbor City, I'll take it!"

Faith had come to me two weeks ago. The new Harbor City branch was starting its soft opening next week.

They wanted me there as head chef, a thirty percent raise, but it was too far from home, so I'd kept turning it down.

After the scene they'd pulled today, I suddenly had all the resolve I needed to get far away for good.

"Got it. I understand exactly what you mean!" Faith caught on in an instant.

My parents and my brother kept dropping photos into the group chat.

"Look at this king crab leg, thicker than my finger. One bite of that meat and it's just heaven!" my brother marveled, cracking crab meat out for Zelda as he went.

My mother kept piling food onto Zelda's plate too. "Here, Zelda, eat up. We put you through so much today. When Mildred comes home tonight, watch me beat her senseless!"

My father had his wine poured too. "Nine grand for a bottle, huh? Today I'm going to savor this properly!"

"Mildred, I'm giving you one chance right now. Come settle the bill yourself, then give your sister-in-law a proper apology, and we'll call the whole thing done!" My mother tagged me again.

I let out a scoff. Even now, she still expected me to go apologize.

"You get over here fast. I'm calling your sister-in-law's parents to come too! Before those two get married, we have to lay down the rules for you!"

Her words dragged me back into thought. My brother was the one getting married, and they were laying down rules for me?

"When you get here, your attitude better be sincere. In front of both families, you'll give a proper promise that from now on you'll respect your sister-in-law!"

My mother rattled on to herself. I didn't answer a single word.

She went ahead exactly as she pleased and called Zelda's parents over to the hotel.

Faith told me my father felt he hadn't drunk his fill with the in-laws, so he'd ordered another bottle.

Another nine grand. They really did have money to burn.

A few rounds of wine in, and probably because I still hadn't shown up, my mother finally hit her limit.

"Mildred! Where the hell did you die off to? If you don't get here now, I'll file a complaint against you!"