2: 2
My cheek was still burning when I looked up into a furious face.
"Watch your mouth. Don't forget, I'm the one supporting Mom and Dad. You've been away for years, you can't take care of them, so what's wrong with putting in a little money?"
I stared at my brother, at all that anger on his face, and couldn't help the cold laugh that came out.
"You? Support Mom and Dad? How do you even say that with a straight face? Your down payment came from them. Your renovations came from them. Your mortgage gets paid with Mom's pension money. And Dad's pension? You've been taking that too, to cover your household."
"So what exactly are you supporting them with?"
A flicker of irritation crossed his face. "Even so, I'm the one who takes care of them day to day. That's still better than you off in another state who couldn't care less about your own parents."
He actually had the nerve.
"You take care of them? Mom retired and came here to raise your kid, do your laundry, cook your meals, like a live-in nanny. That's how you take care of Mom?"
"And Dad. Retired, and still leasing a pond to raise fish, and every cent he makes goes right back to you, doesn't it? They're the ones taking care of you."
His face went uglier still, and Tabitha jumped in. "That's them, they just can't sit still. Nobody asked them to do any of it."
"Besides, you've been away for years. It's not like you've done a thing for them either. How do you have the face to talk like this?"
I pulled out my phone and opened my chat history with Mom. "Every single month she tells me she's got nothing to live on, and every single month I transfer her three thousand. That's not counting the clothes and the supplements I buy her on top of it."
I pointed at the outfit she was wearing. "That's from me too, isn't it?"
Mom pressed a guilty hand to her chest and gave a weak little laugh. "We're all family. Why bring up any of this?"
"Your brother is the Pruitt family's only son. Vicky, you have a duty to look after him too, so let it go."
"And really, you're on your own out there, you can't be spending that much. What's the harm in giving your brother and his wife a few thousand a month? Don't be so petty about it."
So here we were. Even after I'd put in far more than my brother and his wife ever had, in Mom's eyes it took just one thing I refused to give, and I was the petty one.
Well, today I'd be petty on purpose.
"I come home to tutor their kid, and I'm supposed to hand over rent and food money on top of it? And if I won't, I'm petty?"
"On what grounds? I'm tutoring Vicky for free."
Tabitha gave a cold snort. "Tutoring, what's so hard about that? You just talk for a bit. You eat here, you sleep here. You think the water and electricity don't cost anything?"
"And even if I sent Vicky to a tutoring center, it'd only be fifteen hundred for two whole months. Do the math. You living here, eating and sleeping for free, you're getting the sweet end of the deal. There's no way you don't chip in something."
She was lining up my one-on-one lessons against a big group class packed with dozens of kids.
Mom seized the opening and grabbed my arm. "Vicky, see, your sister-in-law has a point. Tutoring isn't expensive these days. Here's what we'll do, each of you settles your own share. She'll pay you what tutoring costs out there. That works, doesn't it? Then you're not losing out."
I laughed coldly. "Mom, you're getting sharper with the numbers by the day. So what you mean is, I still owe Tabitha ten thousand five hundred on top of it?"
Mom said nothing. Leon Pruitt's face only twisted angrier. "We're already paying you a tutoring fee. What more do you want?"
I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and made as if to walk out.
"What more? Nothing. I'm done tutoring. Go sign her up at a tutoring center."
