Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 09

Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 09

“Tessa has no control over her spending. She blows through her paycheck within a few days every month.”

“Your brother is even worse. He spends all his allowance and then sneaks charges onto my card.”

“No one is keeping track of the household expenses anymore. The budget is a mess, and everybody is fighting constantly. Your mom has been thinking about it, and she wants you to drop your studies here and come home to handle the finances and keep the house running.”

Dad must have seen something change in my expression, because he hurried to add, “Your mom

and I know we were wrong. If you come home, you’ll never have to sign another IOU. Whatever

Tessa and your brother get, you’ll get too.”

I scoffed to myself.

They didn’t miss me.

They missed having someone who did all the unpaid work and someone they could control whenever they pleased.

Dad held out the paper bag.

“Your mom picked this out especially for you. She said it used to be your favorite.”

I looked inside.

There were mango turnovers in the bag.

They had always been Tessa’s favorite.

I had been allergic to mangoes my entire life. I couldn’t eat a single bite.

After all these years, my parents had never once remembered what I couldn’t eat.

Whatever attachment I still had to my family disappeared.

I gently pushed the bag away.

“I don’t eat those.”

Dad froze, his brows drawing together.

“Then what do you like? Tell me, and I’ll bring it next time.”

I said nothing.

I didn’t have even a little patience left to explain myself to him.

I simply turned and started walking toward my apartment.

Behind me, Dad sighed again.

But he never once tried to follow me.

Once I was farther away, my phone buzzed with a message from Elliot.

Elliot: [I picked up your favorite hot sauce. Maya and I are making wings tonight. Come over.]

The heaviness that had settled over me after seeing Dad disappeared almost instantly.

Me: [Okay.]

When I got back to my apartment, I placed the photo of Elliot, Maya, and me in the center of my nightstand and carefully wiped the frame clean.

There were no parents around me who played favorites anymore, no siblings who treated

everything like a competition.

There were only friends who genuinely cared about me.

I sat on the edge of my bed looking at the photograph, then slowly took in the little apartment that belonged entirely to me.

The desk was stacked with books for my major that I had picked out myself.

The closet held clothes I had bought with money I had earned.

Everything in the apartment was there because I wanted it there.

I had some savings now, and my part-time pay was enough to cover my day-to-day expenses.

My days were full, and every hour of them belonged to a life I had chosen for myself.

I would never again sit down with pen and paper to sign another IOU.

I would never again try to balance a family ledger that could never truly be settled.

From now on, I was going to live for myself.