Simone stared at the page, and the color drained from her face. “Where did you get this?” she whispered. It was a credit card statement, mailed to my house that very morning. The card was in Trevor’s name, but I had co-signed it four years ago when he started his job. At the top, in bold, sat a balance of $6,240. Beneath it ran three charges from the week before: the Surface Pro, the headphones, and the iPad.
Trevor took the page from her fingers and read it twice. “Simone,” he said quietly, “you told me you paid for those with your savings.” Simone’s mouth opened and closed. Then, behind her, the car door swung open, and my grandson called out, “Grandma, why is Mommy crying?”
I let them inside, sat everyone at my kitchen table, and sent the children to watch television in the next room. Simone finally told the truth. Weeks earlier, her mother had complained that Simone’s family spent every holiday with me and never with her. Simone wanted her mother to feel important, so she charged the electronics to the card I co-signed, assuming I would never read the statements because Trevor handled them. Then she texted me about money being tight, hoping I would not expect a gift.
Trevor said he had no idea. He had researched every item, but he believed Simone was paying from a savings account she kept. His face went white as he told her that lying to him and spending my credit was not the same as being short on money. Simone began to cry. She said she had been jealous for years, because everyone talked about how much I had done for Trevor, and she felt like a guest in her own marriage. Her mother’s gifts were supposed to prove she could give something too.
I told her I understood jealousy, but not taking what was not hers. I slid a bank form across the table, already signed, removing my name from the card. I would hand it in that afternoon, and the balance would belong to Trevor and Simone alone. I offered two choices: return everything, or repay the $6,240 in monthly payments, written down and signed by both of them. Simone chose to repay, and she returned the headphones the same week, saying she wanted to start by giving something back.
The chalet stayed as I had changed it, smaller and warmer. I took Margot and the grandchildren, and Trevor drove up on Christmas Eve to apologize in person. On the third night, Simone arrived with the signed payment schedule and a scarf she had knitted herself. She stood in the doorway and said, “Merry Christmas, Judith,” and I thanked her. The next Christmas, she called me Mom, softly, as if testing whether the word still fit.
