As the head baker and single mum, I was already having a crazy morning trying to keep up with everything. Things got worse when I remembered I forgot to pack Caleb’s lunch money.
I called Caleb to say I was sorry because I felt bad and thought he would be worried. He told me not to worry and that he would look for money in the cereal box, which is where his dad, Marcus, kept some cash.
I was shocked. There’s money hidden in our cereal box? Why did Marcus not tell me this, especially since we were having money problems?
During my shift, I had a lot of questions in my head. How long did Marcus keep this money hidden? Why didn’t he tell me?
It was late when I got home, so I went right to the pantry and found the envelope full of cash. It made no sense to me. We could pay our rent, fix our car, and get some of our bills paid with this money.
That night, I told Marcus about the money that was hidden. He told me he was saving it in case he lost his job and didn’t want to worry me.
I was mad and hurt. Why did he keep this secret fund from me while I thought we were barely making ends meet?
Marcus said he was sorry and agreed that he should have been honest with me. We talked late into the night to work through our feelings and try to trust each other again.
Markus said there would be no more secret caches the next morning. We promised to work together to solve our problems.
Even though the hurt was still fresh, I knew we had taken the first step towards getting better and being honest. We would never be the same again, but at least we were on the way to getting better.
At that moment, I understood that being honest and talking to each other are important for any relationship to be strong. Even if someone keeps a secret for good reasons, it can hurt their love.
