The brass pantry key sat on the edge of the granite kitchen island, right next to a head of organic kale that was already starting to wilt in its plastic sleeve. It was four in the afternoon on a Tuesday, and the kitchen clock ticked too loudly against the subway tile.
Ethan pulled a jar of imported mustard from the paper bag and set it down with a sharp thud that rattled the glass jars of flour on the shelf behind him. He reached back into the bag, his large hand emerging with a crumpled slip of paper that he tossed onto the counter. It was a receipt from the bistro downtown, showing a lunch bill for eighty-four dollars.
“We need to move the eighty-four thousand dollars tomorrow,” he said.
He did not look at me when he said it. He was busy unpacking the rest of the artisan cheeses we rarely ate, his fingers twisting his heavy gold wedding band around his finger. It was a habit that had started when the supply chain delays began hitting Mercer Custom Homes six months ago.
“That money is earmarked for the Brookstone quarterly tax payment,” I said.
My voice remained measured and calm, the tone I used when a corporate risk assessment went sideways. I touched the gold watch on my left wrist, the one that had belonged to my grandmother when she walked these same pine floors, its small ticking a quiet counterpoint to the kitchen clock.
“It is a temporary transfer to the joint household account,” Ethan said, his voice booming in the high-ceilinged room, dismissing my objection before I could fully state it. “It will be back in your business ledger by the fifteenth of next month.”
“I cannot mix corporate funds with personal accounts, Ethan. You know the auditors check those trails every November.”
“This isn’t an audit, Natalie. It is a cash flow bridge for the Mercer development in Oakridge. The supplier wants thirty percent down before they unload the cedar siding.”
“Then you should draw from your own commercial line,” I said, placing the milk carton in the refrigerator door. “That is what the First Commonwealth credit is for.”
