She said that even when he was making money, he never seemed to hold on to it. She told me this story of when Keith was a kid, in third grade, I think she said. They were playing Monopoly, and Keith, who was acting as if he was winning and completely knew what he was doing, turned out to have one property at the end of the game and no money, and no one could understand how his money had all disappeared. She said she knew, instantly, that Keith was going to be just like his dad. They can’t help it, she said; they just can’t seem to keep money.”
“Bet you wish you’d known that before you married him,” Kit says.
“Tell me about it,” sighs Charlie. “You know, I always thought she was rude and dismissive about our lifestyle. Actually, I guess I always thought she was kind of jealous. But it turns out she was worried, because she could see us falling into exactly the same trap they fell into. Apparently, every time she tried to talk to Keith about it, he’d just tell her not to worry, that business was great; and then he’d say his usual crap about being in the top ninety-nine percent of earners in the country, as if that justified everything.”
“Nothing can justify living beyond your means.”
“Now you’re telling me. Anyway, the bottom line is that she’s been amazing. She also said that after they lost everything she took control of the finances, and she advised me to do the same.”
“I thought you hated anything to do with money.”
“I do, I don’t have the patience. But before I got married, I always lived within my means, and even though I don’t understand stocks and shares and leveraging, and all the stuff that got us into trouble, I understand how to live within a budget, so that’s what I’ve been working on.”
“And how does Keith feel about it?”
“He doesn’t have a choice. His mum actually sat him down and told him that if he wanted to save this marriage, he would have to let me be in charge of the checkbook and all the accounts.”
“Wow! And he listened?”
“Yes.”
“So are things any better between you two?”
“Honestly? No. Right now I hate him.”
Kit takes a sharp intake of breath. “Are you serious? ”
“Pretty much. Most of the time I can barely talk to him.”
“Do you think . . . I mean . . . are you going to . . .”
“What? Get divorced?”
Kit nods.
“I don’t know. I’m not thinking that far ahead. Things are about as bad as they’ve ever been, and if we didn’t have the kids, it might be a very different story. But I also hope that this anger I feel will pass, and we can find our way through. I just . . . I guess the hardest thing has been realizing that Keith isn’t who I thought he was. He isn’t a financial Whiz Kid; he’s been completely irresponsible, and inept, at least as far as finances go.”
“You really think he’s that bad? This is the worst financial crisis we’ve ever known, surely you can’t blame him entirely.”
“Yes and no. I agree that these are terrible times, but we just couldn’t afford our life, and that’s what I have a problem with. You look at his salary and his bonus, and my salary, and you look at our monthly expenditure, and it just doesn’t add up. I take full responsibility for the consequences of not being interested, because if I’d known, I would never have let it happen. I was stupid and naive, and passed on all responsibility to Keith, and I wish I hadn’t. I can’t help but resent him for constantly saying it was fine, that we could afford it, when we so clearly couldn’t. Even without this crash, we were living on borrowed money, which is fine if you have a fortune in savings that are earning better interest elsewhere, but we didn’t. We had nothing.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Kit says. “It’s just awful, for both of you.”
“And for the kids. We went to see the headmaster to talk about financial aid, and even then Keith was trying to pretend it wasn’t so bad, because he didn’t want anyone to see him as a failure, and meanwhile we have to show exactly how bad it is in order to qualify.”
“So did you get it?”
“We don’t know yet, but I don’t think it’s good. The headmaster was fine, and he