Part 2Revenge Through My Cooking

I stared at the corner of his mouth, where a faint smear of ice cream remained. "A friend? What friend?"

He licked his lips reflexively. "Just an old friend. You wouldn't know her."

"The doctor said your spleen is weak. You can't have cold things. Next time you and Linda have a date, maybe you should eat something else."

With that, I grabbed my suitcase to leave, but he lunged forward and seized my arm. "You were following me! Have you no shame?"

I ripped my arm from his grasp. "You're asking me about shame?"

He faltered for a moment, then, unbelievably, he smirked.

"Yeah, I saw Linda. So what? Can't old friends catch up? Why are you so damn paranoid?"

I looked at his smug, uncaring face and remembered the time I’d served him soup that was slightly too cool. He’d slammed his bowl on the table and screamed at me all night.

Now, to please Linda, he was ignoring his doctor’s orders.

Suddenly, the fire in my chest fizzled out. It felt like even being angry was a waste of energy.

I didn't say another word. I just picked up my suitcase and walked out of that house without looking back.

On the way to the airport, he called me relentlessly. I ignored every call.

A few minutes later, my son called.

"Mom, what are you doing? Where are you going to go without Dad? I'm out of state, I can't take care of you!"

"Don't worry," I said flatly. "I won't be a burden to you."

I had just hung up when my daughter's call came through.

I sighed, speaking before she could. "I already told you, you don't need to worry about me!"

There was a pause. "Mom, what are you talking about? I got a raise, and I wanted to take you out for a nice dinner. It's your birthday."

Hearing her words, the tears I’d been holding back finally broke free. I poured out all the hurt and humiliation from the day.

The line was quiet for a few seconds.

"Mom," she said, her voice firm. "You go. Don't worry about a thing. Even if you lose the competition, it doesn't matter. I'll take care of you from now on."

I clutched the phone tighter, a wave of relief washing over me. At least I still had my daughter.

"I promise you, honey, I'm going to win. You just wait for me."

At the airport, the texts from David started flooding in:

"You're sixty years old, stop acting like a child! It was just a damn ice cream cone! Get back here and make dinner, I'm starving!"

I was done with his nonsense. I turned off my phone.

But as I reached the gate, a staff member stopped me. "Ma'am, airline policy requires passengers over sixty to present a recent health report before boarding."

"But I'm in perfect health! Look, I can carry this heavy suitcase with no problem. I'm fine, really."

"I'm sorry, but it's the rule."

The competition organizer tried to help. "There's another flight tomorrow morning. Why don't you go home and get the report?"

I gazed at the boarding gate and sighed heavily.

Fine. One more night. As soon as the sun came up, I would be free.

I heard the sound of laughter as I approached my front door. When I pushed it open, the scene inside made me freeze.

David and Linda were on my bed, their clothes in disarray.

Linda scrambled to her feet, frantically straightening her shirt. "Susan, don't get the wrong idea! I was just making David some dinner. You should have some, too."

I let out a cold laugh. "No, thank you. I'm afraid I might catch something."

"What the hell are you talking about?" David snapped. "If it wasn't for Linda, I would have starved! You've got a lot of nerve coming back here! I thought you were so tough."

I ignored him and started searching for my health report.

He kept yelling. "Since you're back, you better start behaving! You pull that face with me again, and you won't see a single penny from me!"

Linda awkwardly picked up her purse. "Well, since Susan's back, I should probably get going."