Chapter 3

I slept in until ten that morning.

I took my time getting ready, then fixed myself some scrambled eggs and sat down to eat.

Sammy was already parked in the living room, and she let out a dramatic sigh the second I walked out.

She shook her head. "Some people sure love their beauty sleep. When I was raising my kids, I was up before dawn every morning, making breakfast for the whole house."

I carried my plate over and sat down across from her. "You know what, Sammy? You're right. So from now on, breakfast is all yours. I'm definitely not getting up that early tomorrow."

The color drained from Sammy's face. She opened her mouth to fire back, but I beat her to it.

"Sammy, you always say a mother should take care of her son's wife, right? And you told me David's grandma did the same for you."

Her face went from white to purple. She had said exactly that, and she knew it.

Every time she talked to the neighbors, she'd go on about how awful David's grandma had been to her.

Then she'd flip the script and brag about how lucky she was to have such an easygoing person as her son's wife.

Now that I'd thrown her own words right back at her, all she could do was sit there and choke on them.

That afternoon, I made plans to go shopping with my best friend.

Sammy's eyes lit up when she saw me heading for the door. "Are you going job hunting?"

I shook my head. "Shopping."

"Shopping?" Her voice shot up an octave. "You're going shopping instead of looking for a job? We can barely keep the lights on around here, and you want to go shopping?"

I stopped and turned to face her. "Sammy, didn't you say a woman should treat herself once in a while?

"Last time Linda was over, you told her a woman should never shortchange herself. So that's exactly what I'm doing."

Sammy bit her tongue.

Linda came over for a visit that day and mentioned how her son's wife never spent money on herself.

Sammy jumped right in. "Women need to stop being so hard on themselves. If you see something you like, buy it. Otherwise, men won't know what they've got."

Well, she got her wish. I went shopping, and all she could do was watch me walk out the door.

I came back that evening with three shopping bags.

Sammy's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "What did you buy?"

I set the bags down on the couch and pulled everything out one by one. "This dress was half off. These shoes were seventy percent off. And this bag was on clearance."

Sammy stared at the price tags, and the color drained from her face. "How much did all of this cost?"

"Not much." I smiled and folded the clothes neatly. "Just four hundred."

"Four hundred?" David walked in right at that moment and nearly tripped over his own feet. "You spent four hundred dollars on clothes?"

I looked at him with wide-eyed innocence.

"Yeah. Weren't you the one who told me to start taking better care of myself? Last month you even said Melissa always looked so put-together, and that I should make more of an effort so I wouldn't embarrass you."

David couldn't say a word, because he had said every bit of it.

At a company dinner, everyone had brought their spouses. He took one look at Melissa in her gorgeous outfit and came home to take it out on me, saying I dressed like a slob and made him look bad.

Now that I had actually bought new clothes, he was upset about the money.

Sammy was pacing back and forth in a panic. "But you can't spend that much! David is the only one bringing in a paycheck."

I nodded. "Exactly. That's why I only bought things on sale. Full price would've been over a thousand, but I saved almost half."

I gave her a sweet smile. "Sammy, don't you always say a penny saved is a penny earned? I'd say I made out pretty well today."

Sammy and David looked at each other, completely speechless.