Sophie's feed updated again with more photos of the northern lights.
With a caption.
"Everyone should see the northern lights once in their life, with the person they love most. Only then is a life complete."
Every time she posted, I liked it. Just to show I'd seen it.
That evening I came home from work to find the living room packed with suitcases.
They'd cut the trip short and come back.
"Weren't they supposed to be gone a month? It hadn't even been a week."
Hilary was seething. He strode right up to me and let loose. "This is because you cut off our cards. You forced us to make Sophie cover everything, and now her card's maxed out!"
"Oh. So there's no money, and the trip's off."
"We'll let the card thing go for now. Just hurry up and pay Sophie back what you owe her!"
"Tenfold, was it?"
"The whole family let Sophie front the money on her own. Isn't it only right we give her a little extra?"
"You can pay her back however much you like. You don't need to run it by me."
Hilary shouted at me, "I'm telling you to pay!"
"Why should I? I didn't even go, and you want me to foot the bill."
"I don't have the money to pay her!"
"No money, so why put on airs like a big shot!"
Hilary followed me into the room. "Mila, you're just dead set on making life miserable for everyone, aren't you?"
He was winding up for more when the bank's collection call came through.
"What? This month's mortgage is overdue? That's impossible. My wife pays it automatically every month."
He'd barely hung up when the call about the overdue car loan came in.
After the two calls, Hilary blew up.
"Mila, you stopped the mortgage and the car loan. What the hell are you trying to do!"
His phone rang again. It was the barista from the coffee shop.
"Hello, whatever it is, make it fast!"
"Boss, I wanted to ask when we're getting paid. Payday was three days ago and the wages still haven't come through. Also, the landlord came by today. He wants next quarter's rent right away. If we can't pay on time, he won't rent to us anymore."
Hilary's eyes were practically shooting fire.
"Mila, you didn't pay the coffee shop staff, you didn't pay the rent, what the hell are you trying to do? Are we even going to have a life anymore!"
"From now on you pay the mortgage and the car loan yourself. You pay the coffee shop wages and rent yourself too. The house and the car are both in your name, the coffee shop is yours, so why should the money come from me?"
"Whatever I paid before, I paid. But from now on, not one cent of mine goes to your family!"
Hilary raised his hand and slapped me.
The slap knocked me to the floor, and there was blood at the corner of my mouth.
That one slap also wiped out the last shred of attachment I had left for him.
His parents and Nadia came rushing in at the noise.
Seeing me knocked to the floor, Nadia laughed loudly.
"You had it coming, sis. My brother was right to hit you. You just had to go looking for trouble, and now look, you got hit."
Hilary's father pointed at me and cursed, filth I couldn't stand to hear.
Hilary's mother wore the look of someone disgusted at a lost cause. "Mila, I'm not saying this to be cruel, but you handled this terribly. Hilary hitting you, you brought it on yourself."
Hilary's father roared, "A slap's letting you off easy. Hilary, you've spoiled her too much all this time. Today you should've beaten some sense into her, so she wouldn't dare pull this again!"
Sophie came over playing the good one.
"Hilary, no matter how angry you are, you can't hit her. Mila, are you all right?"
She reached down to help me up, and on instinct I shook her off.
She let herself drop straight to the floor.
