My father fired my mother from the family business after 34 years of unpaid work, handed her $12,000 and divorce papers, then told her his new girlfriend would be taking her place. “You’ve been living off me for years. Take the money, sign the papers, and let me enjoy the life I’ve worked for.” His girlfriend was sitting beside him when he said it. She was 41. My mother was 59, and my father was 64. What made it worse was that the woman was wearing a gold bracelet my mother had bought for my father years earlier, back when the business was struggling and every extra dollar went toward keeping it alive. My mother looked at the envelope, then at the divorce papers. “Is this really what you think 34 years of my life are worth?” My father leaned back in his chair. “Don’t make this difficult. You helped out at the shop. You weren’t the one running it.” I was standing in the doorway when he said that. I had to hold the wall because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My mother had been opening that auto repair shop before sunrise since I was a child. She answered customer calls, ordered replacement parts, negotiated with suppliers, paid employees, recorded every transaction, and chased customers who owed the business money. When mechanics called in sick, she found replacements. When the electricity bill was overdue, she figured out how to pay it. When my father borrowed money to expand, she managed the repayments. She had never received a regular salary. My father always said they were a team and that everything they earned belonged to the family. My mother believed him. Now he was telling her she had merely helped out. And the woman sitting beside him was the same person he had been introducing to business associates as his new partner.