Brian was sitting in his home office, staring at his credit card app. The brunch charge had already appeared as pending. His jaw tightened when Helen’s reply came through.
Lauren stood in the doorway with a laundry basket balanced on her hip. “Maybe you should leave her alone.”
Brian looked up. “Leave her alone? She pulled a stunt.”
Lauren’s expression hardened. “No. She stopped letting you pull one.”
That silenced him.
Lauren had been quiet at brunch, but not because she agreed with him. She had been embarrassed, yes, but not by Helen. She had watched her husband order champagne for the table after texting his mother that she was paying. She had watched Madison complain that Helen was “being dramatic” before even knowing whether Helen was safe. She had watched Kevin joke about Grandma’s wallet in front of the children.
And she had watched her own children absorb every bit of it.
Brian looked back down at his phone. “She’s my mother.”
Lauren shifted the laundry basket. “Then maybe try treating her like one.”
Across town, Madison paced through her kitchen in yoga pants and bare feet, retelling the restaurant scene to her best friend on speakerphone.
“She just abandoned us there,” Madison said.
Her friend, Nora, was silent for one second too long.
Madison frowned. “What?”
Nora sighed. “Maddie, you picked an expensive restaurant and told your mother she was paying.”
“It was Mother’s Day.”
“Exactly.”
Madison stopped pacing.
Nora continued carefully. “I love you, but you’ve complained for years that your mom inserts herself with money. Maybe she finally stopped.”
Madison’s face flushed. “That’s not fair.”
“Maybe not,” Nora said. “But is it wrong?”
Madison hung up soon after, angry enough to cry and too proud to admit why.
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