02
I was about to speak when Patrick Dickerson shoved in through the back door carrying two boxes of seafood.
He was drenched in sweat, and the second he stepped inside he pasted on a fawning smile.
"Deborah, big brother brought you all a late-night snack."
"Ladies, you've all worked so hard today. Have something to eat, treat yourselves."
Deborah slid her arm through his.
"Big brother, you're the only one who knows how much I've given up for you."
Patrick nodded eagerly, then pulled me over to the hallway by the restroom and dropped his voice.
"Babe, don't give me attitude today."
"Some of those women Deborah brought have husbands who pull strings over at city hall."
"That landscaping contract of mine is down to one last signature."
"Keep them happy today, and we'll be living large from here on out."
The same speech again.
Three years of marriage, and it was always this line.
Before the wedding, he gave me everything I wanted.
Then I found out something was wrong with my body, that I couldn't get pregnant, and his whole face toward me changed.
Deborah walked off with the bag I'd just bought.
He said she was still just a kid.
Molly forced me to quit my job and come home to be a housewife.
He said family shouldn't nitpick over every little thing.
He quietly siphoned hundreds of thousands out of the store's cash flow.
He said the contract needed the cash to keep moving, and he'd pay it back soon.
Every single time, he made me back down like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
I backed down so many times that his whole family started treating me as the Dickersons' personal ATM.
My phone screen lit up.
The future me had sent only one line.
"They're going to make their move soon."
I looked at the seafood dangling from Patrick's hand.
"That batch of product they took cost hundreds of thousands just at wholesale."
Patrick's face fell at once.
"Why are you so petty?"
"We're all family. What's the point of drawing lines like that?"
"Besides, they run their own businesses. Doesn't the store make money off them too?"
"Stop fixating on a little pocket change right in front of you and ruining the big picture for me!"
With that, he yanked the service tablet right out of my hands and turned to press it into Deborah's arms.
"Sis, pick whatever you want."
"Everything's on the house today. Big brother's paying!"
Deborah turned her head, smug, and shot me a taunting look.
"Hear that?"
"Take some notes for the future. Stop making my brother teach you every little thing."
She raised the access card and swaggered off toward the cold storage.
"Ladies, nobody hold back on me today."
"Pick the most expensive of everything!"
