“I doubt the two of you have ever tasted water this expensive. Go on, tell me if it's sweet.”

Mom and Dad stood frozen, cups raised, unable to move forward or back.

“Aaron, I've still got things to do. If there's nothing else, maybe you'd better head out.”

The dog barked at me twice.

Philip smiled and stroked its head. “Good girl, Mimi. No need to pay any mind to people you don't know.”

I clenched my fists, my chest aching until it went numb.

“Aaron, why don't we just go.”

Mom tugged me out the door. I didn't dare lift my head, afraid the tears would fall.

The moment the elevator doors slid shut, I saw Philip bend down and mop, slow and thorough, over the exact spot where my parents had been standing.

As if we were something filthy.

“It's fine if we take a little grief. As long as you and Delilah build a good life together, that's all that matters.”

Mom pressed a bank card into my hand. “Take this for Delilah's father's treatment.”

My nose stung sharp and hot. I forced out a thin smile and got my parents settled.

After wrestling with it a long while, I sent the realtor a message.

“Can you give me a valuation on this place at current market rates? I want to sell.”

By the time I got home, Delilah still wasn't back.

Philip had just posted a nine-photo grid on social media.

“Feeling down, so the boss took me for a drive along the river. Fireworks that speak her heart.”

I killed the screen and sat staring at the photo of the two of us on the nightstand.

Delilah and I had come seven years together since college, and we'd planned to marry this year.

Then her father got cancer, and she took back the deposit on the house.

On top of the original engagement payment of $18,800, she demanded another $58,800.

When my parents found out, they didn't say a word.

The next day, they set their savings passbook in front of me.

It was the money they'd saved their whole lives, meant for their retirement.

“We're old now. We can't do much for you. All we can give you is a stable home.”

I didn't want to shortchange Delilah, so I still booked a five-star hotel.

For that I pinched every penny, wouldn't even spring for a coffee.

And she turned around and blew over a hundred thousand on fireworks for some secretary.

My chest felt packed with a wet wad of cotton, nothing moving up or down.

Half-asleep in the dead of night, the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open, the light snapping on hard enough to sting my eyes.

Delilah hauled me upright, heedless of everything.

“Philip was kind enough to keep an eye on the renovation for us, and you turn around and question him?”

She didn't ask where I'd settled my parents. She didn't care that I'd been sound asleep.

Every last thought in her head was for poor, wronged Philip.

I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose.

“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that what you call turning my clean, simple style into some influencer showroom?”

“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that moving in like a cuckoo and making my guest room into his bedroom, and my parents' room into a dog kennel?”

“All my door access and every smart-home permission are his now. Since when do I have to make an appointment just to come back to my own home?”

Delilah stiffened her neck, self-righteous.

“Philip's redesign looks so much better. You're the one with the stale, old-fashioned taste.”

“Besides, your parents don't come around often, and Philip lives far away. When he works late it's a hassle to get home, so what's the harm in keeping a room for him?”

“They're all small things. Can you please stop nitpicking over every little detail?”

“Because of you, Philip was miserable all night. Find some time, and apologize to him properly.”

My chest was jammed tight, my throat like something had it by the neck.

Seeing my reddened eyes, Delilah softened her tone.

“All right, don't act like you've suffered some enormous injustice.”

“This is a gift for your parents. If you're free tomorrow, let's all have a meal together.”

Inside the gift box lay a string of pearls and a tie of unremarkable quality.

I thought of my parents' eager faces, and I swallowed every ounce of the hurt in silence.

The next morning, when they saw Delilah's gifts, a little smile broke across their faces.

"Delilah's so thoughtful, remembering us even when she's this busy with work."

Mom fastened the pearl necklace around her neck.

Dad carefully lifted from the suitcase the suit he'd been saving for the wedding, and solemnly knotted his tie.

"Aaron, we didn't embarrass you, did we?"

"No, of course not. You two are the best parents in the world."

Once they were ready, I brought my beaming parents to the private room Delilah had reserved.

I pushed the door open, only to find Philip and his dog seated brazenly at the head of the table.

"Mimi wouldn't budge once she settled in here. You don't mind, do you?"

Delilah stroked the dog's head, doting, not even lifting her eyes.

"Aaron's not petty. He wouldn't fight a mutt for a seat."

A shadow crossed my parents' eyes, but they held on to their smiles.

"It's fine, it's fine. We're all family. Sitting anywhere is the same."

Philip's gaze dropped to the necklace and tie on my parents, and he covered his mouth, laughing.

"You know, Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt, that necklace and tie actually suit you two pretty well."

"Yesterday we went to buy Mimi some clothes, and the clerk threw in these two accessories. My Mimi has no use for them."

"Never thought they'd look so fitting on you."

The smiles froze on my parents' faces.

Mom's hand jerked back from the necklace as if it had burned her.

Dad sat there, the hand at his side curling into a fist.

Looking at the gray at their temples, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Delilah, what's that supposed to mean?"

But Philip's eyes went red.

"Ms. Sullivan, I didn't mean anything by it. Why is Aaron angry again?"

Delilah's face soured.

"Aaron, can you please stop being so emotionally unstable all the time?"

"Philip was just complimenting your parents. Do you have to be this sensitive?"

The bitterness and rage inside me nearly drowned me.

"Delilah, you gave my parents the freebies that came with buying your dog clothes."

"The dog and the secretary take the seats of honor at dinner. Is it because you think we're not worthy?"

Delilah lifted her wrist, checked her watch, and frowned.

"I never said that. Can you stop blowing everything out of proportion?"

"I dropped my work to come out here, not to watch you throw a tantrum."

My chest was so tight I couldn't get a word out.

Mom stood up, took my hand, her voice pleading.

"Aaron, don't say any more."

"We're fine. Really, we're fine."

She turned her head and gave Delilah a smile.

"Delilah, thank you for taking the time to have dinner with your uncle and me."

"Aaron's spoiled because of us. Don't be upset with him."

Then she looked at Philip. "Young man, thank you for the gift. We like it very much."

With that she lowered her head, took off the necklace, and slipped it into her bag.

Then she sat down, picked up the teacup in front of her, her hand trembling without stop.

The tea spilled over, splashing onto her brand-new dress.

Dad kept his head down, saying nothing.

I fought back the tears with everything I had.

The server brought out the food, all of it seafood and sashimi.

One of my parents was allergic to seafood, the other had gout.

Seeing them not touch their chopsticks, Philip's eyes reddened with hurt.

"Why are Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt so picky? I went out of my way to book the finest restaurant in Northport. They're impossible to please."

Delilah said nothing, just bent her head over Philip's plate, peeling shrimp for him.

When I stepped out to the restroom, Delilah followed me out, her tone anything but kind.

"Aaron, what's the deal with you and your parents, deliberately trying to make Philip look bad?"

"He pulled a lot of strings to book a place like this. Can't you show a little sense?"

"A whole family, ganging up on one poor young man. Have you no shame?"

I stared at her, seething.

"Delilah, who exactly is ganging up on whom?"

"My parents can't eat seafood. How many times have I told you that already?"

She just never cared enough to remember.

A flicker of guilt crossed Delilah's eyes.

"Enough. Philip didn't do it on purpose."

"Take your parents out for another meal later. Order whatever they like, and that's that."

By the time dinner ended, it was pouring outside.

Philip climbed into the front passenger seat like he owned it.

His dog leapt into the back.

"Aaron, sorry about this. My dog gets anxious around strangers."

"Why don't you all just grab a cab?"

Delilah didn't see anything wrong with that.

"Philip's wearing brand-new shoes today. If they get soaked, that's a few thousand dollars down the drain."

"Aaron, hailing a cab is easy enough."

With that, she hit the gas, and the spray from her tires slapped straight into us.

The dress and suit my parents had bought just for tonight were spattered with filth, both of them a soaked mess.

The rain came down harder. We stood outside the restaurant for forty minutes and couldn't get a single car.

My mother's carefully done hair collapsed into a limp tangle, plastered to her face.

She crouched down and wiped the mud off my father's pant leg with her sleeve.

"It's fine, it's fine. A little wiping and it'll be clean."

Somehow the pearl necklace snapped, and the beads scattered across the ground.

My mother knelt in the rain, picking them up one by one.

Tears blurred my eyes. I stepped forward and pulled her to her feet.

"Leave it. We don't want any of it."

"And this wedding, I'm not going through with it either."

The real estate agent called.

"Mr. Pruitt, you mentioned last time you wanted to sell the house. I've got a buyer here, in a hurry, and the price works for them. Are you sure you want to sell?"

I looked back at my parents' aged faces.

They had spent every last cent of their savings to buy me that house.

They had ridden a train for more than thirty hours, hearts full of hope, just to witness me happy.

They had worn their very best clothes, and someone had turned them into a joke.

I gripped the phone and gave a firm nod.

"I'm sure."

When I got home, Delilah hadn't come back.

My phone suddenly buzzed like mad. It was a notification from the security camera app.

The camera was left behind by the previous owner, standing entirely apart from the whole smart-home system.

On the feed, Philip walked out of the bathroom, bare from the waist up.

He wrapped his arms around Delilah from behind.

"Delilah, do you really feel nothing for me at all?"

Delilah stood rigid where she was, the hand at her side clenched tight into a fist, as if holding something back.

"Delilah, my only regret is the timing. I met you too late."

"Your wedding is in three days. There's no chance for us, ever."

"I just... could you grant me one last wish? Be my first woman?"

"That way, I'd never forget you as long as I live."

As Philip spoke, he broke down sobbing.

Delilah carefully wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Then she rose and rushed to the door, about to leave.

"Philip, Aaron and I have seven years together. I promised I wouldn't betray him."

"You... you'll meet someone better someday."

Philip clung to her from behind, weeping.

"There won't be. There'll never be anyone better than you."

"Back when my father had cancer, you canceled your down payment on the house and handed over the entire dowry payment to me without a second thought. Can you really claim you don't feel anything for me?"

I froze where I stood, my nails nearly digging through my palms.

So it wasn't her father who had cancer. It was Philip's.

And I was the only fool still worrying she didn't have enough money to get by.