Eight Hundred Dollars An Hour

For five years, Willa has surrendered in every fight with her husband, Conrad, until sixty-hour workweeks leave her too exhausted to care. When he announces he will miss their anniversary to drive Alyssa home and run interference against an arranged blind date, Willa's only reply is that Friday's payday will finally clear the last of the money she owes him for her mother's surgery.

That debt was born in a hospital corridor, when her card was declined and Conrad offered exactly half of the thirty-six thousand dollars, on one condition: apologize to Alyssa. Willa raised the rest by begging relatives and selling her handbags, watches and gowns, down to a final eight hundred dollars. Conrad reads it all as a spiteful performance, certain she will bend as she always has.

Then the hospital calls: her mother is in the emergency resuscitation bay.