The last $80 in my purse should have bought groceries, but I handed it to my sister so Abby wouldn’t shiver through another winter. By morning, Marla was calling in a panic, demanding the used jacket back. Then my daughter reached into its pocket and asked a question no child should have had to ask.
“Eighty dollars, Jen. Not a penny less.”
My sister Marla snatched the winter jacket out of my hands.
“Marla, please. I can only spare sixty. Abby’s freezing in her old coat. The rest of my cash has to cover groceries.”
“Not a penny less.”
“Then let her freeze. This was an expensive jacket. Kayla only wore it for one winter before she outgrew it.”
I looked at the faded sleeves.
One cuff was fraying, and the zipper needed a firm tug to close.
“Could you at least give me until Friday for the rest?” I asked.
“Then let her freeze.”
Marla folded her arms.
“I’m not running a charity.” She glanced at my worn purse. “Your daughter should be grateful she gets something decent after my Kayla.”
My fingers tightened around the frayed strap of my purse.
“You know what Tom’s treatments cost us, Marla. Since the funeral, I’ve barely managed the bills.”
“I’m not running a charity.”
My husband had died eighteen months earlier.
We’d spent nearly everything trying to help him.
My sister rolled her eyes.
“How long are you going to use your husband as an excuse?”
My husband had died.
I stared at her.
For a moment, I couldn’t speak.
Then I opened my purse and took out the last $80 I had.
Marla counted the bills.
Then she dropped the jacket onto my lap.
“There. Everybody’s happy.”
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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