The freeloading ends today. My husband declared it right after his promotion, announcing that from now on, we’d have separate bank accounts. I agreed. And then, on Sunday — his sister came for dinner. She looked at the table, looked at me and said: “About time he stopped…”

On Sunday evening, Garrett’s sister Bridget arrived for dinner, acting as though she were a royal guest who expected to be served.

She sat at our dining table and made a snide comment about how it was about time that Garrett stopped funding my easy life.

“You have really had it quite good for a long time, Elena,” Bridget said while swirling a glass of wine that I had paid for.

Garrett didn’t say a word to defend me, but instead, he gave his sister a smug look of agreement.

“I actually agree with both of you,” I said as I stood up from the table to go into the kitchen.

They both looked surprised by my lack of resistance, and Garrett even raised his glass in a mock toast to accountability.

I returned to the room and placed a store bought pie on the table along with the heavy folder of financial documents.

“Since we are officially moving to separate finances, I thought we should review the actual costs of this household,” I said while sliding the papers toward Garrett.

He opened the folder with a bored expression that quickly turned into a mask of pure shock as he started reading the numbers.

“What exactly am I looking at here?” he asked, his voice beginning to tremble slightly.