Mom’s Fake Fairness: The Fixed Family Draw Chapter 02

Mom’s Fake Fairness: The Fixed Family Draw Chapter 02 Something Off

My mom didn’t ever hesitate. “Of course we’re getting you a new one. You’re at the age where you should be dating, and you can’t be showing up in that old thing.” She leaned forward. “What are you looking at?”

James pulled out his phone and slid it across the table. “This one. Down payment is 50 thousand dollars and we can drive it home the same day.”

Fifty thousand dollars?

Nobody in this family had that kind of money lying around. Dad had retired years ago on a low salary. Mom’s pension went straight to James every month.

James himself spent every dollar he made as soon as he made it. Ipily was still doing an internship and could barely cover her own expenses.

There was exactly one person at this table who could write that check, and everyone in the room knew it.

All eyes slowly drifted to me.

I kept my head down and focused on my soup like I hadn’t noticed.

James got impatient and kicked my chair. “Riley, what do you think of the car?”

I looked up and kept my face completely neutral. “We don’t have that kind of money.”

My mom made a small sound in her throat, then pushed her chair back and disappeared into her bedroom. When she came back out, she was carrying the cookie tin.

‘A big purchase like this needs to be done the right way,” she said, setting it in the middle of the table. ‘Lily’s still on an internship, so she’s sitting this one out. The two older ones draw, and whoever gets ‘pay‘ covers the 50 thousand dollars down payment.”

James and Lily caught each other’s eyes across the table, and they both pressed their lips together to hide their smiles. They already thought they knew how this was going to end.

My mom turned her back to us, made a show of tearing two slips of paper, and scribbled something on each one. I watched her from across the table and felt the corner of my mouth pull into a quiet smile.

She rolled the slips up, dropped them in the tin, gave it a shake, and turned back around. “Riley, you first. You’re the one bringing in the most money, after all.”

I looked at the tin sitting there in the middle of the table. Every other time in my life, I’d felt my stomach drop at this moment. This time, I was almost eager.

“Sure,” I said. Then I paused. “Actually, Mom, that tin is so old it’s starting to feel like bad luck just looking at it. Why don’t we swap it out? I have a clear glass jar in my room. You can see everything inside it, so nobody can say it’s not fair.”

I started to stand up.

My mom’s hand shot out and slammed down on the tin. “We are not switching it out!”

She caught herself and quickly smoothed her expression over. “This tin has been in our family for decades. It’s got our family’s good energy built into it. If we swap it out now, we’ll lose all of that. You really want to risk that?”

I watched the cold sweat break out on her forehead and felt nothing but a hollow sadness. She was willing to make up the most pathetic excuses just to squeeze money out of me.

I sat back down and laughed under my breath. “Fine. We’re not switching it up. But this time, I’m drawing for myself.”

Before she could say anything, I grabbed the tin right out of her hands and reached inside. When I pulled my hand back out, there was a little folded slip sitting in my palm.

Everyone stared.

‘Open it!”

I took my time unfolding it. “Pass.”

ames’s smile froze on his face. Lily’s mouth fell open. My mom’s eyes went wide and she blurted out, That’s impossible.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean impossible, Mom? Why can’t I pass for once?” I let that nang in the air for a second. “Did you already know what I was going to draw?”

She fumbled for words. “No, I just meant, you know, your luck is usually so bad and… I’m happy for you. Really. Your luck finally turned around.”

I slapped the slip down on the table and held the tin out to James. “Your turn, James. There’s only one slip eft in there, and we both know what it says.” I smiled at him. “A bet’s a bet.”

ames panicked. He shot a desperate look at our mom, but she was just as rattled and didn’t have much choice but to tell him to draw.

He reached into the tin with a shaky hand, dug around for way too long, and finally pulled out the last slip. He squeezed his eyes shut and couldn’t bring himself to look, so Lily leaned over and opened it for him.

“It says pay!”

My mom immediately jabbed her finger at the table. “This round doesn’t count. We’re doing it over.” She reached for the tin.

I shot to my feet and slammed my hand down on it before she could grab it. “Mom, come on. You’re the one who came up with this system. You’ve been running it for decades.”

My voice stayed calm, but every word landed hard. “When I drew pay all those times, you never once said we should redo it. Why does it only not count when it’s James’s turn?”