A year after my divorce, my ex-husband started dating someone new. Our breakup had been pretty rough, and we hadn’t spoken since.

Out of nowhere, he messaged me one day, saying, “I’m getting married soon, and I’d really like it if you went back to using your maiden name. My fiancée finds it uncomfortable.”

I was puzzled and asked him why it mattered so much. He explained that his fiancée felt threatened because I still shared his last name.

“She believes you’re still ‘his’ since you have his name,” he told me.

That seemed like a lot of hassle and paperwork for no good reason, so I decided not to change my name and blocked him.

What I didn’t expect was his fiancée showing up at my doorstep! She glared at me and accused, “You must still be in love with him, or else why keep the name?”

My Family-In-Law Demanded I Pay for Everything. My Reaction Stunned Them.

Here’s the story, made more exciting and easier to read, and told from the first-person perspective:

“Family should be the people who back you up when times are tough, like when you lose someone you love. But throw a little money into the mix, and you really see what some folks are made of.

That’s exactly what I discovered after coming into a decent chunk of change from my mom’s estate. I kept the money in a separate account, still figuring out the best way to use it without wasting any.

Lately, my husband couldn’t stop talking about the inheritance. He kept dropping hints and making plans on how I should spend it. Plus, it seemed like he expected me to foot the bill for just about everything these past few weeks.

Things came to a head when we went out to eat with his family over the holidays.

The evening was going smoothly until I realized everyone expected me to pick up the check. Out of nowhere, my husband’s mom cracked a joke about me paying from my ‘inheritance pocket.’

That really got under my skin, but I didn’t let on. I quietly paid for my own meal and drinks, stood up, and left the restaurant.

Behind me, they started yelling, and my husband even followed me out, trying to get me to come back, but I just drove home.

He didn’t show up until 3 a.m., fuming. He ranted about how I embarrassed him and his family by walking out. He even said I was trying to get back at them for not being able to help his mom when she was ill—which is totally not true.

He’s really mad now, thinking I’ve caused a rift between his family and me, all over not paying for one dinner.”

He said, “You could have just paid. It wouldn’t have hurt you,” but I think it was about more than just dinner. It was about respect.”