My ex-husband refused to pay half our son’s hospital bill while he recovered because his new wife’s Aspen trip was already booked. I reached for the statement, then remembered the folded note in my purse. Darren read it twice before demanding to know who had put one terrible thought in Ethan’s head.
“Can you at least pay half?”
I slid the hospital statement across Darren’s kitchen counter.
He glanced at the total, then pushed it back.
“I can’t afford this right now, Jodie.”
“Can you at least pay half?”
Our son, Ethan, had spent four nights in the hospital after surgery for a ruptured appendix.
He was home recovering, but the bills had started arriving.
Darren and I had divorced three years earlier. We shared custody, and we’d always agreed to split Ethan’s medical expenses.
The bills had started arriving.
“There’s an insurance adjustment listed here,” I explained. “I’ve already called the billing department. This is what we still owe.”
Darren rubbed his forehead.
“I understand that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“This is what we still owe.”
Before he could answer, Vanessa looked up from her laptop.
“We’ve already spent that money on our trip to Aspen.”
I turned toward her.
“Excuse me?”
“Everything’s booked,” she said. “Flights, hotel, activities. We leave next weekend.”
“Everything’s booked.”
I waited for Darren to say that his son’s medical bills mattered more than a vacation.
He didn’t.
Instead, he folded his arms.
“I said I can’t help right now.”
“He’s your son too.”
“I know who my son is, Jodie.”
“I said I can’t help right now.”
I looked at the vacation itinerary glowing on Vanessa’s screen.
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