Chapter 1

My wife is famous for being generous. Every month, the moment her salary lands, she spends every last dollar of it treating friends and relatives to meals.

The household bills, my in-laws' medical costs, our daughter's tuition — all of it falls on me alone.

My own paycheck never covers it, so I could only try to talk it over with her.

"Could you set aside a little of your salary for the family each month?"

That made her angry.

"It's money I earn from my own job. I'm not even allowed to spend it as I please? It's just treating everyone to a meal. You have a problem with that too?"

My in-laws chimed right in.

"Our daughter is known by everyone for being loyal and generous. As her husband, you should be proud of her. Instead you're scheming over her money and hurting her reputation. How can you be this selfish?"

Even our six-year-old daughter blamed me.

"Daddy's a cheapskate. He won't let Mommy treat people. Daddy's bad!"

I nodded and stopped arguing.

Then I turned around and agreed to my company's yearlong residential training program.

I wanted to see how they'd get by — that whole family of generous good people — once they were rid of me, the selfish villain.

1

On payday, the first thing Maura Pruitt did was drop a two-thousand-dollar cash gift in the family group chat and tag everyone.

"Got paid today. The five-star hotel is booked. Nobody leaves sober tonight."

Then she posted two pictures to the chat.

One was a screenshot of her fresh paycheck. Thirty-eight thousand dollars.

The other was a screenshot of the private room she'd just reserved at the five-star hotel.

The cash was snatched up in seconds, and the messages started pouring in.

"Maura's too generous. Every payday she treats everyone. She's so worried about us spending money she even sends the cab fare straight to the chat."

"Right? This girl is so thoughtful, so big-hearted in everything she does. No wonder she's the most successful of the whole Pruitt clan."

"That five-star hotel is the fanciest place in the whole city. I hear the minimum spend on a private room alone is twenty thousand."

"You go, cousin! When my girlfriends found out I had a cousin as generous as you, they were all green with envy."

Sitting on the couch, Maura smiled, pleased, and immediately sent her cousin a special one-thousand-dollar gift.

"Bring your girlfriends along. The more the merrier."

The praise flooded in all over again.

Quite a few relatives tagged my in-laws directly.

"Roger Pruitt, Marilyn, you two are truly blessed. Raising a daughter as successful and generous as Maura — you've got nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy the good life."

My father-in-law replied instantly.

"My daughter has always been honest and openhanded in everything. The second she has money in her pocket, she wants everyone around her to enjoy it with her."

My mother-in-law even sent a voice message to the chat.

"Maura says everyone should eat and drink to their heart's content tonight. Don't hold back to save her money."

I sighed, closed the chat, and opened my ledger.

This month there was the daughter's tuition to pay, the in-laws' medical costs to set aside, the car loan, the mortgage, and last month's household spending I'd put on the credit card and still had to clear.

Even if I poured my entire salary into it, I was still eight thousand dollars short.

Same as always.

Every month at this point, the bills at home sat against my throat like a knife, until I could barely breathe.

I drew a deep breath and turned to look at Maura.

She was already fixing herself up in the mirror, getting ready to head out to the dinner.

After a lot of hesitation, I spoke up.

"Maura, there's something I want to talk over with you."

She kept working on her hair, not even lifting her head. "Go ahead."

I paused, keeping my voice gentle.

"There's just too much to pay for this month. Even counting all of my salary, we're still eight thousand short."

"Could you set aside a little of your paycheck for the family instead of spending all of it treating people?"

Maura frowned, as if she'd heard something absurd, and snapped at me, displeased.

"It's money I earn from my own job. I'm not even allowed to spend it as I please? It's just treating everyone to a meal. You have a problem with that too?"

I explained.

"I'm not saying you can't treat people. I just hope you'll keep a little for the family."

"Dad's heart is bad, Mom has diabetes, our daughter's in school, and there's the car loan and the mortgage to pay. The costs are too high. My salary alone just can't carry it."

Maura gave a cold snort, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Can't carry it? Then why don't you work harder?"

"It's money I earn. I'll spend it however I want. It's none of your business."