Emily felt a cold, deliberate anger settle in her chest. In an even voice, she pointed out that he had taken everything, leaving her with empty shelves. After a twelve-hour shift, she said, she now had nothing to make for dinner—and nothing for breakfast either.
Mike waved a hand dismissively and reached for his headset again. He told her to stop overreacting and just order sushi or pizza on her credit card. His mother needed the food more, he said, and Emily was young enough to run out and buy more herself.
After that, Emily turned and walked out of the room that smelled faintly of stale smoke and electronics. Her hands itched to yank the headset off his head and take the giant TV with it. Instead, she went to the bedroom and dropped onto the bed fully dressed.
Her stomach growled with honest hunger. After twelve hours on her feet at the medical clinic—smiling, calming people down, putting out one small fire after another—her face actually hurt from being pleasant. All day she had been looking forward to a bowl of hot soup and a quiet evening. That small comfort had disappeared in one sweep.
Now her dinner was sitting in front of his mother, Susan, who was no doubt enjoying it just fine. Emily pulled out her phone and opened her banking app. The latest large charge had hit a couple of hours earlier at an upscale grocery store, and it was for over $80.
She frowned. If Mike had already emptied their refrigerator, why had he needed a grocery run too? She opened the itemized receipt and found jumbo shrimp, a jar of salmon roe, a fancy dessert, and premium whole-bean coffee. The pieces clicked into place with unpleasant speed.
Mike hadn’t just delivered the leftovers and basics. He had thrown his mother a full-on feast. And he had paid for it with Emily’s credit card. Cleaning out the fridge had simply saved him time and effort.
It’s worth noting that Mike had not held a job in six months. His grand plan to launch a business selling “innovative” shoe inserts had failed spectacularly and taken their vacation savings with it. Since then, he had been in what he liked to call a period of “figuring things out” and “studying the market.”
In practice, that meant frequent trips to the kitchen and late-night gaming sessions that ran until dawn. Emily had put up with the absurdity for longer than she cared to admit, partly because of her mother’s old advice. Marriage, her mother always said, goes through seasons, and when times are hard, a wife should stand by her husband….
