My Husband Won't Charge His Relatives, So I Smiled

My husband and I opened a restaurant, and every single day his little sister brought a whole crowd in to eat and drink, and never once did she pay.

I couldn't help mentioning it to him, and in an instant he flared up.

"Leila James is my own sister. How could you have the nerve to make her pay? How did I, Benjamin James, end up with a wife this cheap?"

My mother-in-law laid into me too.

"Our family has always been generous. Don't go bringing those petty, penny-pinching habits from your backwater town into the James household."

"We never take money from family!"

I nodded and said nothing more.

Then I turned around and sent the restaurant's address to my family group chat, tagging everyone.

"This is the restaurant I opened. Come eat anytime you like, everyone. It's all free."

The next day, my husband and mother-in-law were dumbstruck.

1

"Benjamin, Cordelia Henson, I brought a few card buddies I just met. Come on, get us some tea."

The moment dinnertime hit, Leila's voice rang out from the doorway, right on schedule.

I looked up.

There she was, breezing in through the door like she owned the place, seven or eight people trailing behind her.

The second she was inside, Leila acted like she'd walked into her own home, leading the whole pack straight to the big round table by the window, laughing as she waved them over.

"Sit wherever you like, don't be shy. Order whatever you want. Everything today is on me!"

Seeing how open-handed Leila was, her card buddies traded looks, and a few said, a little embarrassed, "Leila, we only just met at the card room today. You treating us to a meal already, isn't that too much?"

Leila waved a hand, breezy about it.

"What's too much about it?"

"My brother owns this place, so it's basically my own restaurant. Eat and drink to your hearts' content, no need to save me any money."

As she spoke, she picked up the menu on the table, didn't so much as glance at the prices, and started rattling off orders to the waiter beside her.

"Three pounds of the signature lobster, one crab each, and this luxury seafood chowder, make it two of those, and bring out a few of the most expensive specialty dishes you've got."

"On top of that, two bottles of top-shelf whiskey."

"And hurry it up, we've still got mahjong to get back to after we eat."

Once she'd rolled through the order like a pro, Leila fell into laughing and chatting with her card buddies at the table.

Listening to the noise from over there, I sat at the front counter, worn thin.

This was Leila's seventeenth time at the restaurant this month.

The first time was opening day, at the start of the month.

She'd brought her husband, her mother, and her kid to show support. Four of them, seven dishes, a bill over eight hundred.

Once they'd eaten and drunk their fill, she wiped her mouth, turned around with the whole family, and left, without the faintest intention of settling up.

Since she was my sister-in-law, I let it go.

But I hadn't expected that, from then on, she'd come every single day.

One day it was her girlfriends.

The next day, coworkers and friends.

The day after that, the neighbors.

In the space of half a month, she'd paraded every person she knew through here for a meal.

And every time she came, she ordered the finest liquor and dishes, each visit pricier than the last.

Yet she never paid a single cent.

This time, though, she'd actually dragged in card buddies she'd met only that very day.

Soon, one top-tier dish after another arrived at the table.

Lobster, crab, and luxury seafood chowder covered the whole round table, and the top-shelf whiskey was all laid out too.

Seeing the spread, Leila's card buddies swallowed hard and dropped every last bit of restraint.

Gorging themselves on the food and drink, they kept heaping praise on Leila.

"Leila, you're too good to us. Just met and you're already this generous with everyone."

"Right? Treating everybody to a casual meal on this kind of scale. That's what happens when your family owns a restaurant. A whole different level."

"It's an honor to know you. From now on, whenever you want to play cards, just call us, we'll be there in a heartbeat."

Leila soaked up the flattery, thoroughly pleased, and her talk swelled bigger and bigger.

"It's just a meal, no big deal."

"From now on, whenever you all want to eat, I can bring you here for free every single day!"