Chapter 6 - HOWARD CALLED IT FAMILY MONEYHoward invited me to lunch.
I chose a restaurant.
Public.
Neutral.
He looked deeply offended by that.
“I’m not dangerous.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You won’t come to my house.”
“Not right now.”
He sighed.
Then began defending Ethan.
“Your husband has always taken care of people.”
“I know.”
“Diana has had a difficult few years.”
“I know.”
“Those children have been through a divorce.”
“I know.”
Howard became frustrated.
“Then what do you want me to say?”
“That stealing my employer’s card was wrong.”
“It was.”
First clean sentence he had given me.
“Ethan hiding thirty-eight thousand dollars was wrong.”
Howard looked away.
There.
“What?”
“I wouldn’t use that word.”
“Which word? Hiding?”
“He was helping his sister.”
“Without telling his wife.”
Howard lowered his voice.
“Family money has always been family money.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
When his wife died, Howard built Collins Accounting Group while raising Ethan and Diana.
Good years.
Bad years.
Tuition got paid from wherever money existed.
Howard refinanced his house once to cover Diana’s college after she lost a scholarship.
Ethan postponed graduate school for a year and helped Howard stabilize the firm.
Nobody kept score.
At least that was Howard’s version.
“We survived because we didn’t nickel-and-dime each other.”
“This is not nickel-and-diming.”
“Diana needed help.”
“So you think my income became part of the Collins rescue system when I married Ethan?”
Howard looked genuinely surprised by the wording.
“I think spouses join families.”
There it was.
Not theft.
Absorption.
I asked:
“How much have you given Diana?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Over her lifetime?”
“Last three years.”
About $72,000.
Rent.
Legal fees.
Car repairs.
Private-school tuition.
Howard’s retirement savings had taken a hit.
He was still comfortable.
Not infinitely.
Then he told me why Ethan started carrying more of the burden.
“I asked him.”
Of course.
Howard worried Diana would lose custody time if her housing became unstable after the divorce.
He worried the kids would have to change schools.
Ethan began quietly covering gaps.
Then larger gaps.
Then routine expenses.
The emergency became a system.
“And where did you think I fit?”
Howard looked down.
“I thought Ethan told you.”
That was the family’s favorite phrase.
I thought.
Assumed.
Expected.
Everyone believed the next person had consented because checking would have made the answer inconvenient.
Before leaving, Howard said:
“I’m sorry about the card.”
I nodded.
Then he added:
“But I hope you don’t destroy your marriage over money.”
I looked at him.
“This isn’t about money.”
May you like
He genuinely didn’t understand yet.
That was the tragedy.
Related Stories
