David unlocked it, found his mother’s contact, and put the call on speaker. It only rang twice before Barbara picked up. She sounded awfully pleased with herself.

“David?” she said. I could hear the smugness in her voice.

“I saw the card, Mom,” David said. His voice was so quiet it made my skin prickle.

“Well, I only spoke the truth,” Barbara said. I could almost see her smirking through the line. “That girl is going to drag you down, David. I did what any mother who loves her son would do.”

David looked at Claire. He took her small hand in his grease-stained one and squeezed it tight.

“My wife is twice the woman you will ever be,” David said. “And you are never going to speak to either of us again.”

“David, don’t you dare speak to me that, “

He didn’t let her finish. He pressed the red button and cut her off.

Then he did something that made me want to cry right then and there. He went into Claire’s phone settings and blocked his mother’s number. Then he took his own phone out of his pocket and did the exact same thing.

“She’s gone,” David said, looking right at my daughter. “It’s just you and me now.”

Claire didn’t say anything for a second. She just threw her arms around his neck and held onto him like he was a lifeline.

I sat there at my kitchen table, looking at those two kids. They didn’t have much. Claire’s job at the insurance office didn’t pay a whole lot, and David’s truck was starting to rust around the wheel wells. But looking at them, I knew they had everything they needed to survive whatever storms came their way.

As for Barbara, she still lives over on the wealthy side of town.

I hear from some friends that she tells everyone her son was brainwashed, but nobody really listens to her anymore. She has her big house and her expensive dresses, but she sits in them all alone.

Sometimes, when I go over to Claire and David’s little rental house for Sunday dinner, I see them laughing in the kitchen while they wash the dishes together. David still holds her hand like he’s never going to let go. And every single time I see it, I think about that awful receipt sitting in the trash, and I smile.