I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to count them. I was just trying to work out what had happened to all the freshly baked croissants for three people — had I made too few?
But before I could explain, I saw my mother stormed into the kitchen, packing up the unbaked croissants.
She grabbed my sister and even took the croissants left in the plates. "Melody, Sylvia is so petty! Let's go—we're not eating here anymore!"
Tears blurred my vision.
The thunderous slam of the door shook the tears from my eyes.
Mom called me calculating, yet she wouldn't even give me the croissants left on my sister's plate. It turned out it wasn't that I made fewer croissants—there simply wasn't any portion for me at all.
After my mother left, she never came back. Not even a phone call. And I didn't call her either.
Later, I saw Melody updated her social media feed. It was a photo of her and my mother eating croissants together.
Instead, my sister called me, "Sylvia, you need to be more generous. Why make mom unhappy over a few croissants? She's staying with you all the time, so you can always eat her croissants."
"Why be so petty? Do you think I ate them all? Look how upset mom is!"