Chapter 1

My sister-in-law had gotten into a top-tier high school, so I'd bought her a domestic phone, five thousand and change, to give her as a congratulations gift.

The golden retriever I'd brought over as part of my dowry suddenly went wild and clamped down on my pant leg.

【Mom! Whatever you do, don't give it to her! In your last life it was because of that phone that she hated you for the rest of your days!】

【Your mother-in-law is a real Monday-morning quarterback! The second you pull it out, she'll say she was going to buy her youngest daughter the newest iPhone. And since you gave a gift, she won't bother now!】

【Don't believe me? Just watch!】

Sure enough, the moment Brenda Acevedo saw me lift the phone box out of my bag, she started in with her needling tone.

"Oh my, is that a phone you got for Denise Sawyer? And here I was, planning to buy her the newest iPhone. Well, since you've already gotten her one…"

A chill ran down my spine. I shoved the phone straight back into my bag and cut her off with a smile.

"Mom, you've got it wrong. This is one I bought for myself. My old phone lags something awful, and I caught a good deal."

"Besides, this one's domestic. How could it possibly be good enough for our family's star student?"

As I said it, I turned and pulled out a red string that had come free with the phone, and slipped it around Denise's wrist.

"There. That's the gift I got for Denise."

……

Denise looked down at that cheap red string, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Sis, I got into the city's top high school, and you give me a scrap of string?"

I smiled.

"This is a protective red string, blessed by a master. I waited in line for hours to get it."

Then I turned to Brenda. "Mom, didn't you just say you were going to buy Denise the newest iPhone? When are you two going?"

Denise's eyes lit up in an instant. "Mom, you're really buying me an iPhone?"

Brenda froze, then stammered, "That—you must have heard me wrong."

Calm as anything, I opened my photo app. "Mom, I recorded it just now. Everyone here heard you say it."

I'd meant to capture the look on my sister-in-law's face when she got her gift. Instead of a surprise, what I caught was proof of Brenda's empty promise.

The second aunt, there for the celebration dinner, jumped right in. "I'll vouch for it, sis. You really did say it…"

The third uncle laughed and egged her on. "Exactly. We've got a top-high-school student in the family. What's an iPhone?"

Brenda's face went red. She tried to change the subject, but Denise's mouth curled down and her eyes went red-rimmed.

"Mom! Don't tell me you're going back on your word!"

"Of course not…" Brenda ground the words out through her back teeth.

I twisted the knife, all helpfulness. "Then let's go tomorrow. Students get an education discount, fifteen percent off, and while you're at it, take a look at a tablet, a laptop, all of it!"

Brenda shot me a vicious glare and said nothing.

Denise took the silence for a yes, cheered, and threw herself at Brenda, wrapping both arms around her. "Mom! I knew you loved me best!"

Then she twisted around and rolled her eyes at me. "Not like some people, all show and no substance, just trying to fob me off!"

I smiled and let it go.

After the dinner ended, the golden retriever circled me, tail going like mad.

【Mom! Nicely done!】

【Last life, after you gave that phone, your mother-in-law put on the same act. Said she'd meant to buy the iPhone, and only decided not to because you'd already given one.】

【And once Denise started high school, everyone else had an iPhone and she was the only one with a domestic phone. She was ashamed for three whole years!】

【Her grades tanked, and she pinned every bit of it on you. Blamed you for the domestic phone, for making her lose face in front of her classmates, said that was what wrecked her studies. An absolute ingrate!】

I sucked in a cold breath, and the dowry dog kept going.

【Worse than that, once Denise got into college, you pinched every penny to send her eighteen hundred a month for living costs. But the moment she graduated and landed a good job, she blocked you outright!】

【Later you were diagnosed with stomach cancer, and when you asked her to lend you money for the surgery, she shoved you straight down a stairwell!】

【She said if you hadn't given her that piece-of-junk phone, her mom would have bought her the iPhone, and she wouldn't have been mocked for three years. And if you hadn't been so stingy, only giving her eighteen hundred, her mom would have made it three thousand, and she wouldn't have had to deliver takeout on the side and get cursed at for it!】

【Last life, after you took your last breath, your mother-in-law rushed over, wiping her eyes and cursing you the whole time. Said you'd dragged her daughter down, that if you'd just been generous enough to buy an iPhone back then, would things ever have come to this?】

The golden retriever pushed his head into my arms.

【Mom! This time around, stop being the sucker who pays for everyone!】

【Your own phone only cost two thousand and change. From now on, whatever you won't buy for yourself, don't buy for anyone else!】

【Otherwise Grandma and Grandpa, and me too, will all be sick over it!】

I hugged him and nodded, pulled out the new phone, and got ready to peel the screen film off and use it myself.

The next second, my husband, Clyde Sawyer, came charging over, grabbing for the new phone.

"Cheryl Swanson, have you lost your mind! Buying yourself a phone this expensive! Return it right now!"