Eleanor looked at Mia.
“Nobody talks to her tonight unless I’m there.”
Mia nodded.
The calls continued through dinner.
Heather sent the first long message.
She said Eleanor had misunderstood.
She said Mom was only trying to teach Mia responsibility.
She said Sophie’s horse camp was supposed to be a family gift and that everyone had been asked to contribute.
Eleanor read that sentence twice.
Everyone.
She typed one question.
How much is Sophie contributing to Mia’s next birthday gift?
Heather did not answer that.
Instead, their mother jumped in.
This is exactly the kind of selfishness I was trying to prevent.
Eleanor stared at the message.
Then came another.
You are teaching Mia that she can take from family without giving back.
Eleanor almost laughed.
Take from family?
She thought about the recurring payments she had canceled less than an hour earlier.
For years, hundreds of dollars had left her account every month before she bought herself anything unnecessary.
She had treated the transfers like obligations because questioning them made her feel disloyal.
Four hundred fifty dollars toward her parents’ mortgage.
Three hundred toward Heather’s mortgage shortage.
Seventy-five for Heather’s children.
One hundred to Leo.
Sixty for family utilities.
Nine hundred eighty-five dollars every month.
Nearly twelve thousand dollars a year.
And her mother was accusing Mia of taking.
Thomas stood behind her chair.
“Don’t answer angry,” he said quietly.
“I’m not angry anymore.”
That was the strange part.
She had been angry when she saw Mia’s hands.
She had been furious when her mother admitted what she had said.
But after canceling the payments, the anger had cooled into something much more useful.
Clarity.
Eleanor typed slowly.
Mia is twelve.
She owes Sophie nothing.
Do not contact her directly about money again.
Then she muted the group chat.
At eight forty-seven, Leo called.
Eleanor let it ring.
At nine twelve, he called again.
At nine thirty, Heather called Thomas.
He did not answer.
At ten fifteen, Eleanor’s father finally entered the group chat.
His message was short.
Call your mother.
This has gone far enough.
Eleanor looked at it, then locked her phone.
“No,” she said to the empty room.
Mia had gone to bed by then.
