I had just finished a difficult negotiation call and stepped into the kitchen to clear my mind. Margaret was already irritated because a delivery driver had dropped off several product samples for one of my campaigns. She glared at the boxes and snapped, “More useless junk? People who don’t work always spend other people’s money.”
I calmly told her she needed to stop speaking to me like that.
Instead, she grabbed the kettle she had just used for tea and flung hot water toward me. It splashed across my shoulder and arm. I gasped and stepped back in shock while my skin burned.
Then she pointed at the door and shouted, “Get out of this house and never show your face here again!”
Ethan wasn’t home. My arm was burning, my hands shaking, and Margaret stood there staring at me like I was the intruder.
So I left.
I drove straight to urgent care, where doctors treated the burns. Afterward I called my attorney and made one final call before going to sleep.
The next morning Margaret woke up to loud knocking at the front door.
When she stepped into the hallway in her robe, she froze.
Standing outside were a locksmith, two police officers, my attorney, and me.