Beatrice: Mark... tell me she's joking. Tell me you still have money in your private account!
Mark: I don't have a private account, Mom...
Beatrice: What do you mean you don't have a private account?! Where did your salary go?!
Mark: I spent it all on my club memberships, my clothes, and the lease payments for your apartment!
Beatrice: My apartment?! You said you bought that condo for me outright!
Mark: I lied, okay?! Evelyn was paying the monthly mortgage on your condo through her firm!
Beatrice staggered backward, grabbing the edge of a dining table to keep from falling.
Beatrice: My home... she's going to take my home too?
Mark: If she cut off the corporate accounts, the mortgage payment for next month will bounce!
Server: Excuse me, folks... you'll need to clear the dining area now. We have a private party arriving.
Mark looked around the room. Every guest was staring at them. Some were whispering behind their hands, while others were smiling at his public humiliation.
Mark: Come on, Mom. Let's go outside.
They walked out onto the sunlit sidewalk. The bright afternoon air felt cold and harsh against Mark's face.
Where his sleek black BMW usually sat waiting with the valet, there was only an empty curb.
Beatrice: What are we going to do, Mark? Where are we going to stay tonight?
Mark: I... I don't know, Mom. My phone is about to die.
Beatrice: Call a taxi! We can go to a hotel!
Mark: With what money, Mom?! We have sixty-five dollars between the two of us! A hotel room costs two hundred a night!
Beatrice: You ruined everything! You just had to scream at that boy over a stupid hot dog!
Mark: Me?! You were the one fueling my ego! You kept telling me to put Evelyn in her place!
Beatrice: I didn't know she owned everything, you fool! You told me you were the provider!
The two of them stood on the curb, screaming at each other while passersby walked past them, completely ignoring their desperate cries.
Across town, a luxury black sedan pulled up to the gates of a massive estate surrounded by lush green lawns.
Inside the car, Toby was sitting happily in the backseat, eating a slice of fresh apple pie from a bakery box.
Boy: Mom... are we ever going back to Daddy's apartment?
Evelyn: No, sweetie. We're going to live at Grandpa's house from now on.
Boy: Will Daddy come visit us?
Evelyn: No, Toby. Daddy has to go learn how to take care of himself first.
Toby nodded quietly, taking another bite of his pie as the grand iron gates opened smoothly to welcome them home.