On Mother’s Day, my grown kids told me they had chosen the restaurant and expected me to pay for all twelve of them, just like always.

Brian Whitaker opened the bill first because he always opened bills he expected someone else to pay. He glanced down with the casual expression of a man checking a weather forecast, then froze.
His wife, Lauren, leaned closer. “How much?”
Brian folded the folder shut too quickly. “It’s wrong.”
Madison reached across the table and snatched it from him. Her bracelets clinked against the champagne flute.
“What do you mean wrong?” she asked.
Then she saw the total.
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Kevin, still chewing a piece of maple-glazed bacon, laughed. “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”
Madison turned the folder toward him.
Kevin stopped chewing.

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