good. Just tired and happy.Then the next morning happened.I was in the kitchen making coffee when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Lila. Just a photo. Nothing else.I opened it, and there it was. A handwritten note sitting on their kitchen counter. A list of things. Eggs. Water bottles. Laundry detergent. Electricity. Even toilet paper.
A BABYSITTING BILL!
At the bottom, she had written the total and circled it. Forty dollars. And under that, a polite message asking me to send the money by Friday.I honestly thought it was a joke at first. I stared at it for a while, waiting for it to make sense.But it didn’t.And then it hit me. She was serious.
My hands actually started shaking a bit. Not because of the money. It wasn’t about that at all. It was what it meant. I had just spent the whole weekend taking care of her child, and somehow I ended up being treated like I owed something for it.
That part hurt.I thought about calling her right away. I had a lot to say in that moment. But I stopped myself. I didn’t want to react out of anger.So instead, I sat down and thought about it.I wanted her to understand how it felt, not just argue.I took a piece of paper and wrote my own note.At the top, I wrote, “You owe me.”Then I started listing things. Not groceries or utilities, but everything else. Time. Patience. Sitting with Oliver while he played. Reading to him over and over again..w
