Chapter 4

First I called the bank and reported the mortgage card lost, then went in and had a new one issued and changed the PIN. After that I got in touch with a lawyer friend and asked him about how property gets divided in a divorce.

Once all of that was done, I felt calmer than I had in a long time.

And so I stayed at the hotel for nearly a week.

During that time Adeline went from bombarding me with calls and abusive texts to softening her tone and begging me to make up. I ignored all of it.

She needed a taste of it too. Being disrespected. Being ignored.

Then, Friday afternoon, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize.

"Is this Carl? It's Adeline's mother." She sounded frantic.

I said nothing.

"Carl, you have to come down to Central Hospital right away! I... my stomach started hurting out of nowhere yesterday, and when they checked me, the doctor said it's acute appendicitis. I need surgery right now!"

My eyebrows didn't so much as twitch. Appendix surgery? How much would that be?

"The doctor says the surgery and the hospital stay together come to about... about thirty thousand." Her voice cracked into sobs. "We don't have that much cash on hand, and Addie's money all went to buying her brother's car. Carl, can you... can you come pay it first? I'm begging you!"

Listening to that fake, weepy pleading, I just felt sick.

Where was all this concern before?

But I didn't call her out.

"I understand," I said flatly, and hung up.

About ten minutes later, Adeline called.

This time her voice was gentler than I'd ever heard it, with a note of fawning humility in it.

"Honey... Mom told you everything, didn't she?"

Hearing the word "honey" come out of her mouth felt unbearably ironic.

"Mm." I kept it to a single syllable.

"Then can you... can you please hurry over here? The doctor keeps pushing us to pay. I know I was wrong. Everything before was my fault, I shouldn't have taken the money without talking to you first. Don't be mad at me anymore, okay? Right now saving my mom is what matters!" Halfway through, she actually started crying.

What a performance.

I watched the traffic streaming past outside the window and let a cold smile tug at my mouth.

"I'll come after work," I said.

"Good, good! Honey, I'll wait for you! I'll be at the hospital payment desk!" She latched on to the words like a drowning woman to a rope, agreeing over and over.

After I hung up, I didn't move right away. I sat in the office for another hour.

Only once it was fully dark out did I take my time getting a cab to the hospital.

The moment I walked into the hospital billing hall, I spotted Adeline.

Her makeup was done up carefully, but her eyes were red and she looked pitiful. The second she saw me, she came rushing over like I was her salvation and grabbed hold of my arm.

In three months of marriage, this was the first time she'd ever clung to me this intimately in public.

Her grip was tight, as if she were afraid I'd bolt.

"Honey, you're finally here! I've been so scared!" She rested her head against my shoulder, her body trembling faintly.

I could smell her familiar perfume, but inside I felt nothing at all.

"Where's the bill?" I asked.

"Here, it's right here!" She hurriedly pulled a payment slip out of her bag and handed it to me.

I took it and glanced down.

The number on it stopped me cold.

It wasn't thirty thousand.

Printed there in plain figures: hospital surgery deposit, $280,000.

Two hundred and eighty thousand.

I lifted my head and looked at Adeline.

Her eyes darted away, unwilling to meet mine.

"Wasn't it appendix surgery?" I asked, calm.

"It... the doctor said that while they were checking, they found... they found Mom's heart isn't great either, there's a blocked vessel, and it's best... best to do it all at once, or there's a risk later." She stammered through it, and it was obvious she was lying.

I smiled coldly on the inside.

Nicely done. Jack up the price once I'm through the door. Lure me in with a small surgery, then slap down an astronomical number to force my hand.

They probably figured that once I was standing here in the hospital, wrapped in the whole life-and-death, save-a-dying-woman glow, there was no way I'd refuse.

Seeing me stay silent, Adeline got more frantic. She shook my arm hard, tears dropping like beads off a snapped string.

"Honey, I know it's a lot of money, but that's my mom! I can't just stand here and watch her be in danger! Let's save her first and worry about the money later. I'll do whatever you say from now on, okay? I'll work myself to the bone for you!"

She wept like a rain-soaked flower, and heads all around us turned to look.

I could feel it, a few pitying, accusing looks landing on me. As if I were some cold-blooded son-in-law refusing to pay to save his mother-in-law.

What a bitter little act.

I looked at her. Looked at her for a long time.

Until she was crying so hard she could barely breathe.

Then, slowly, I nodded.

"Fine."

Adeline's crying cut off at once. She jerked her head up, joy breaking over her face, hardly daring to believe it.

"Really? Honey, you'll do it?"

I didn't answer her. I just pulled my arm free of her grip and stepped toward the payment window.

Adeline instantly went from tears to smiles, trailing close behind me, the smugness and delight on her face completely unhidden.

I could picture exactly what she was thinking.

She had to be thinking that this man was still wrapped around her finger, that all it took was a little crying, a little scene, and he'd agree to anything.

I reached the window. The line was short.

It was my turn quickly.

"Hello, I'm here to pay." I slid the slip with "$280K" written on it through the opening.

The clerk took it and worked at her computer for a moment. "Hello, that's two hundred eighty thousand total. Card or scan to pay?"

"Card."

Right in front of Adeline, unhurried, I drew my wallet out of my pocket.

Adeline's eyes locked onto that wallet, and the look in them was like a starving wolf spotting prey, all greed and hunger.

I opened the wallet, revealing the brand-new bank card inside.

The one I'd just had reissued.

My hand moved toward the card.

In that instant Adeline held her breath. The smile on her face was past hiding now.

My fingers had already touched the edge of the card.

Then I stopped.

Slowly I raised my head, my gaze passing over the payment window to Adeline standing at my side, her face full of expectation.

I looked into her eyes and, one word at a time, in a voice only the two of us could hear, said calmly:

"Then let's do that next time too."

My voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet billing hall it carried clearly into Adeline's ears.

The smile froze on her face, like a statue caught in ice.