The Fifty Fifty Lie

Summary

“Your insurance card. Let me use it for the paperwork.”

Derek was lying in the hospital bed, his face a sickly yellow.

I looked at him.

“The total treatment is going to be around $120,000,” he said. “My coverage won’t touch that.”

“What about your savings?”

He was silent.

I smiled. A slow, cold thing.

Married for five years, living AA for five years.

He made $6,000 a month; I made $4,500.

Mortgage split fifty-fifty. Living expenses split fifty-fifty.

I thought it was called fairness.

Until today, when I learned the truth—

He had saved $220,000.

I had saved $8,000.