Elizabeth worried incessantly about money.Peter had already moved some money out of the bank accounts. Someof "his" money. Based upon the history of bill payments and whenbills were due, he put a limited amount of money in the account ona weekly basis. And since she was not working during the summer,she was totally dependent upon what crumbs he spared her. She wasthankful that the few camps the kids had been signed up for hadbeen paid in advance. There would have been no way she could havemanaged that.
And while it would not make a difference in theshort term, Elizabeth immediately began making changes in order tosave and stash money. In some ways, it made her feel devious. Inother ways, she felt a righteous indignation that she was forcedinto such measures. She hoped the thought and effort put into theprocess would provide enough financial cushion to actually help herwhen Peter finally stopped paying the bills.
She unplugged several appliances in the houseto conserve energy and turned the air conditioning temperature upby several degrees. She closed a few rooms off and kept shadesdrawn on the south side of the house when the sun was out. The kidsseemed all right with it; Peter was the one who liked the housechilly. She opened windows when she could to supplement. Shecleaned out and turned off the second freezer in the garage. Sheonly left two televisions plugged in, one for her and one for thekids. She stopped blow drying her hair, and relied on natural lightas much as possible. Peter thought the electric bill would be acertain amount, so she would still ask him for that same amount. Ifshe could lower her bill, then she would pocket thedifference.
Peter had kept a close watch over grocerybudget for years, often cursing in disbelief about the amountElizabeth spent on food. However, he still gave her the same amountevery week for groceries. It didn't occur to him that she wasbuying less food since he wasn't there to eat it. For someonesupposedly so smart, he could be kind of oblivious. So next, sherenewed her efforts with cutting and using coupons. She was mindfulabout what she bought and started shopping at the bulk store thataccepted coupons. She also shopped at the discount store in town.It no longer mattered if she didn't shop at Super Shop n' More. Sheused up what was in the freezer as well. She and the kids wouldplay a game and try to figure out what to make with the randomitems in the freezer. This creative use of what she already hadalso reduced her grocery total on a weekly basis. When she got tothe check out, she requested cash back in the amount of thecoupons, plus the amount that she had saved by not having to feedPeter. The total on the credit card bill would look about the same,possibly slightly less (in case he caught on to the fact that shewas only feeding three, not four). And most trips, she walked awaywith as much as fifty dollars.
She knew saving money in this way was a piddlydrop in the bucket in the grand scheme, but she didn't know howelse to start. She bought boxes of hair color (with coupons, ofcourse). There was still a monthly budget line for her hair, andshe hoped Peter would not see it. He most likely would, but even ifshe could get away with it for a month or two, she could save thatamount for the time being. She must have been crazy to pay $150 fora cut and color. Eight dollar hair scissors kept her bangs undercontrol, and with the discount, her hair color was under sevendollars. Still, ten dollars here, fifty dollars there. If she couldkeep it up, it might add up. She kicked herself for not doing thisa while ago. On the other hand, she knew it would be nowhere enoughto support herself, and she hated the time and attention to detailthat she donated to this.
The only thing that had kept her going thissummer was her friendship with Susan and Jayne. They opened uptheir house to Elizabeth and the kids, letting them hide out in themountains. Susan and Jayne took them hiking and kayaking and otheroutdoorsy stuff that Elizabeth would never have dreamed of doing onher own. They had provided a reprieve for Elizabeth. They boughtthe food and provided shelter, and asked nothing of Elizabeth inreturn. They left her alone when she asked, and kept her companywhen it was blatantly apparent she needed it. Susan even becameElizabeth's personal hair colorist. The hard part of driving to andfrom Susan's house (other than the gas she was using) was that shehad to pass Jack's house each time. She researched another route,but it would add about ten miles to the trip, and she wasn'twilling to use up the extra gas. When she approached the house, shewilled herself to look straight ahead, not even stealing a glanceat the cozy house.
Although she had never come right out and saidit, the kids understood that Elizabeth and Peter were no longertogether. She overheard Teddy talking to Jayne about it one night.Her parents had divorced when she was about Teddy's age, so she hadsome great words of wisdom for him. He seemed comforted by theirtalk. Elizabeth, however, felt even more like a failure since shedidn't address it first with Teddy. There it was— the need to control. To dictate how her sonfound out and how he responded, including whom he sought out forsupport. She literally had to stop and make herself let itgo.
It was the last week of summer vacation. Peterhad texted her last week and informed her that he would be takingthe kids to visit his parents for the week. He'd have them back onLabor Day. It would give Elizabeth time to get her classroom inorder. She
