“You’re the one who wanted this apartment!” Elena’s voice carries from the bedroom. “A studio would have been half the cost!”

“How were three of us going to live in a studio?” Julia asks. “I can call my brother, test the waters, and then maybe ask my parents for a loan.”

Yes! I want to scream. Call! Tell them about me. Stop depriving me of having a family!

“After all this time, you’re gonna go crawling back? No! I won’t give them the satisfaction. I’ll give out parking tickets before I’ll let you call Alonso.”

“I never even wanted to buy the catering company! I don’t even like vegan food! It makes me gassy!” Julia yells back.

To be fair to Julia, it was Elena’s decision to buy out Vegan Again, a small catering company that specializes in plant-based cuisine for parties and corporate events. But to be fair to Elena, if not for the pandemic, it would have been a savvy investment. There is no shortage of weddings or company off-sites in the Bay Area that want to offer their guests quality vegan fare. But a lockdown means you can’t have any gatherings with more than ten people and that everyone who can work from home should work from home.

And that means it’s impossible for us to make ends meet when we’re currently living in a world devoid of celebrations. I feel like we’ve all been turned into monks against our wills. The county has even instituted a ten PM curfew in the hope that it’ll help slow down the spread of the virus, and some of us are a lot poorer for it. My moms, and our bank account, were victims of shitty timing.

“If you don’t swallow your pride, we’re going to end up sleeping in our car,” Julia says, continuing her tirade.

Minus their recent string of global-pandemic-induced arguments, I would describe my moms’ marriage as, well, the kind of relationship that makes you believe in monogamy and soul mates and fairy-tale endings. After twenty-five years together, Julia still laughs at Elena’s Mary Katherine Gallagher impression and Elena claims she can’t fall asleep without the steady timbre of Julia’s snoring next to her. When you witness that kind of affection, day in and day out, it sets the bar high for any of your future romantic relationships. Thanks to my moms, I would much rather be alone than settle, but I wouldn’t mind marrying rich either. True love does not translate into a lucrative nest egg, especially for two people who’ve been supporting themselves since they were teenagers.

“We’re rich in love,” Julia always makes sure to remind us.