At Brunch My Mother Called Me Useless Until I Canceled Twelve Thousand Dollars And Everything Changed

“Your father and I have decided on Hawaii for December.

Two weeks on Maui. Jeffrey and his girlfriend will join us.”

“I’ve never been to Hawaii,” I said quietly.

My mother waved her hand like the thought was mildly inconvenient. “You’re welcome to come if you can get the time off.

The resort is quite expensive.

Twenty-five hundred per person, not including airfare.”

Twelve thousand minimum. I did the math automatically. It was one of the ways I kept myself calm.

“That sounds lovely,” I said, meaning it.

“You two deserve a nice vacation.”

“We thought so too,” my father said. “We worked hard.

Time to enjoy it.”

Jeffrey looked at me then, really looked at me, and something cruel moved through his expression. “Must be nice.

Some of us had to work for it.”