“You’re so stingy! You won’t spend a penny on family!” my mother-in-law snapped, setting her cup down on the table with irritation.
I stared at her for a few seconds. Then I glanced at her daughter, Lucía, who was sitting calmly across from me, scrolling through her phone.
“Not when it comes to my family,” I replied. “But I never signed up to support your daughter.” Lucía immediately looked up.
My mother-in-law, Carmen, stared at me with her mouth half open.
My husband, Javier, who was standing by the kitchen counter with a bottle of water in his hand, froze.
“Excuse me?” Carmen asked.
“You heard me perfectly well.”
I calmly lifted my coffee cup.
It was Sunday, just after noon. Carmen and Lucía had come over for lunch. For the first half hour, everything had gone relatively normally.
Then Lucía started complaining.
Her rent had gone up.
Her car needed repairs.
And she wanted to spend a week at the seaside with her friends in October, but according to her, “with all these expenses, it was impossible.”
I listened without saying a word.
Until Carmen found a solution.
Using our money.
“Javier could help you with the car,” she declared.
Javier frowned.
“Mom…”
“What? She’s your sister.”
“I know who she is.”
Carmen ignored his response.
“And maybe you two could give her something toward her vacation as well. After all, you both earn good money.”
That was when I put down my fork.
“No.”
One word.
Carmen looked at me as if I had just announced that I refused to feed a starving child.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Exactly that. We’re not paying for her car repairs or her vacation.”
Lucía sighed.
“I didn’t ask for anything.”
I looked at her.
“Last week, you asked Javier for 400 euros.” She blushed.
“That was a loan.”
“And the 250 euros last month?”
Silence.
“And the 600 euros in May?”
Lucía put her phone down on the table.
“Are you keeping track of my finances now?”
“No. I’m keeping track of ours.”
Carmen shook her head.
“This is unbelievable. You can easily afford to help her.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Of course it is!”
She gestured irritably around our kitchen. “You renovated the kitchen. You bought a new sofa. You went to Portugal this summer. But the moment Lucía is going through a difficult time, suddenly there’s no money!”
“There is money,” I replied. “It’s just ours.”
Carmen’s face hardened.
“You’re so stingy! You won’t spend a penny on family!”
That was when I answered:
“Not when it comes to my family. But I never signed up to support your daughter.”
Lucía shoved her chair back.
“Nobody supports me!”
I looked at her calmly.
“Really?”
“Elena,” Javier interrupted.
I turned toward him.
“No, Javier. If we’re going to discuss money in front of everyone, then let’s really discuss it.”
He immediately understood where I was going with this.
Carmen didn’t.
“What are you talking about?”
I picked up my phone.
“Since January, Lucía has asked us for money seven times.”
“That’s not true!” Lucía protested.
I started counting.
“Three hundred euros for car insurance. Two hundred and fifty for rent. One hundred and eighty for the phone. Six hundred in May. Four hundred last week…”
“That’s enough!”
Lucía stood up.
“No. Not yet.”
I looked up at her.
“Because I haven’t included the concert tickets Javier paid for or the 320 euros for your weekend in Barcelona.”
Carmen turned to her son.
“You paid for all of that?”
Javier slowly put the water bottle down on the counter.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
I almost laughed.
So that was what bothered her.
Not that her daughter was constantly asking for money.
But that Carmen hadn’t known about all of it.
“Javier helps his sister because he loves her,” I continued. “I’ve never had a problem with that when it was a genuine emergency. But for the past few months, these haven’t been emergencies.”
I looked at Lucía.
“A vacation isn’t an emergency. A concert isn’t an emergency. A new phone isn’t an emergency.”
“You don’t get to decide what my brother does with his money!” “Exactly.”
I nodded.
“His money.”
Then I looked at Carmen.
“But you just criticized me for refusing to pay.”
Carmen crossed her arms.
“You’re married. Your money is shared.”
“Fine.”
I leaned slightly toward her.
“Then every time Javier gives his sister 500 euros, I can give 500 euros to someone in my family?”
Carmen blinked.
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucía is his sister!”
“And what would my sister be? A stranger?”
Javier lowered his head to hide a smile.
Carmen noticed.
“You think this is funny?”
“No, Mom.”
He pulled out a chair and finally sat down beside me.
“But Elena is right about one thing.”
“One thing?”
“We’ve been helping Lucía for almost two years.”
Lucía stared at him.
“You’re talking as if I’m a burden.”
Javier sighed. “I’ve given you more than three thousand euros this year alone.”
Silence fell instantly.
Even I turned toward him.
“More than three thousand euros?”
He nodded.
I knew about most of the amounts.
But not all of them.
Carmen went slightly pale.
“Three thousand?”
Lucía picked up her phone again.
“I’ll pay you back.”
“When?” Javier asked.
She didn’t answer.
“Lucía.”
“I don’t know!”
Carmen immediately stepped in.
“She’s going through a difficult time.”
Javier looked at her.
“For two years?”
“She’s your sister.”
“I know, Mom. You say that every time she needs money.”
Lucía grabbed her bag.
“Fine. I’ll never ask for anything again.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Javier replied.
“Yes, it is. That’s exactly what both of you are saying.”
She headed toward the front door.
But before leaving, she turned back to me.
“I hope one day you need help.”
I held her gaze.
“I already have.”
She hesitated.
“And do you know what I did?”
“What?”
“I cut my expenses.”
Nobody answered.
Lucía opened the door and left.
Carmen immediately stood up.
“Are you happy now?”
“No.” “You just humiliated my daughter.”
“No, Carmen. Your daughter simply heard the word ‘no.’”
Carmen grabbed her handbag.
“Family is supposed to help each other.”
“I agree.”
I stood up as well.
“So I have a suggestion.”
Carmen stopped.
“What?”
“Next time Lucía needs 500 euros, we split it.”
She frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“You give her 250. We give her 250.”
Carmen stared at me.
“Why me?”
This time Javier burst out laughing.
Carmen turned toward him furiously.
“What are you laughing at?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing. It’s just interesting.”
“What is?”
Javier looked at me, then at his mother.
“Helping Lucía seemed a lot more important when the money was supposed to come out of our account.”
Carmen fell silent.
Then she picked up her coat.
“I don’t have to put up with this.”
“Nobody is forcing you to stay,” I replied.
She left without saying goodbye. The door slammed behind her.
For a few seconds, Javier and I stood alone in the kitchen.
Then I turned toward him.
“More than three thousand euros?”
He grimaced.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When? At four thousand?”
“Elena…”
I raised my hand.
“Tonight. We’re going through every transfer.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Then his phone vibrated on the table.
A message from Carmen.
Javier read it.
His expression changed.
“What?” I asked. He handed me the phone.
The message read: “Your sister is crying because of you two. You need to fix this. At least send her the money for the car.”
I looked at Javier.
He was silent for a few seconds.
Then he typed a reply.
“No.”
One word.
He placed his phone face down on the table.
Two minutes later, it vibrated again.
This time, Javier didn’t even look at it.
And for the first time in a long while, the question was no longer how much money Lucía would ask us for next.
It was how long it would take her to understand that our bank account wasn’t her second paycheck.