**Diary Entry 8th June**
“If you dont like my rules, you know where the door is!” snapped my mother-in-law over Sunday roast.
“Margaret, what if we try the potatoes a different way? Ive got a lovely recipe with mushrooms,” Emily suggested gently, stirring the gravy.
“I dont need your recipes!” Margaret shot back, not looking up from peeling carrots. “Forty years Ive been cooking for this family, and now you come along with your fancy ideas!”
Emily sighed and kept stirring. Six months had passed since she and James had moved in with his mother after their flat burned down. Six months of petty squabbles, sharp glances, and Margarets constant jabs disguised as concern.
“Mum, come on,” James said, walking in and kissing Emilys head. “Ems a good cookmaybe we could try something new?”
“Oh, so its both of you against me now!” Margaret threw her hands up. “Thirty years I raised you, fed you, and now my cooking isnt good enough?”
“Mum, thats not what I meant”
“Then what *did* you mean?” She slammed the knife onto the chopping board. “First, you turn up on my doorstep, and now youre telling me how to run my kitchen!”
Emilys chest tightened. *Turned up on her doorstep*as if they were beggars, not a family whod lost everything.
“Margaret, I wasnt telling you, just suggesting,” she murmured, turning off the hob.
“Suggesting! Who asked you? This is *my* house, *my* kitchen!” Margaret planted her hands on her hips. “And *I* do the cooking here!”
James glanced between them, torn. Emily hated seeing him like thisit only made the ache worse.
“Ill set the table,” she muttered, leaving before she slammed the door.
In the lounge, fourteen-year-old Lily was doing homework on the sofa. She looked up.
“Arguing again?”
“Just talking,” Emily lied, fetching plates.
“Mum, when are we getting our own place?”
That stung. The insurance had covered barely half the damages. James drove lorries; she taught primary school. They were saving, but it was slow.
“Soon, love. Just hang in there.”
“I cant anymore!” Lily burst out. “Shes impossible! Yesterday she screamed at me for playing musiccalled it racket! This morning, she said I walk too loudIm tiptoeing!”
Emily stroked her hair. Lily was a good kid, but even her patience had limits.
“Give her time. Shes used to living alone.”
“Some grandma,” Lily muttered. “Proper grandmas bake cookies, not nag all day!”
“Shh, shell hear you.”
“Dont care!”
A crash came from the kitchenJamess voice, then Margarets shrill reply. Emily rushed back.
“What happened?”
“Your husband broke my mothers china!” Margaret pointed at the shattered plate. “The last piece I had!”
James stood frozen with the dustpan. “Mum, it was an accidentI was helping”
“Help? Teach your wife respect first!”
“*Me?*” Emily snapped. “James dropped it!”
“And whose fault is that? Youve turned him careless! He never broke a thing before you!”
“Mum, thats not fair”
“Fair? You used to be a proper son! Now its all *her*!”
Emilys hands shook. Six months of this.
“Margaret, enough,” she said quietly. “Well leave tomorrow.”
James gaped. “With what money?”
“Well manage. A bedsit, anything.”
Margaret paled. “Im not throwing you out!”
“No. But were in your way.”
“Dont be daft”
“Its your home, your rules. We dont belong here.”
Margarets lip trembled. “I never meant”
“I know. But were all miserable.”
Lily popped her head in. “Can I start packing?”
“Yes,” Emily said.
“Finally!” Lily sprinted off.
Margaret burst into tears. “I didnt want this!”
Emily hugged her stiffly. “Well visit. Once were settled.”
That night, Emily rang a colleague who had a cheap flat to letsmall, outdated, but theirs.
James sighed. “What if its awful?”
“Well find something.”
Margaret lingered in the doorway later. “Must you go?”
“Yes.”
“Couldnt we try harder?”
Emily shook her head. “You deserve peace. So do we.”
At dawn, they loaded their things into a cab. Margaret stood silently, lips pressed tight.
“Come for dinner soon,” Emily said. “Ill cook.”
Margaret nodded. “Youre not angry?”
“No. This is right.”
As the cab pulled away, Emily exhaled. Ahead lay uncertaintybut no more walking on eggshells.
“Regrets?” James asked.
“None. You?”
“Same. Mumll come round.”
Lily squeezed Emilys hand. “Can I play music in the new place?”
“Just not too loud.”
The cab turned onto an unfamiliar street. A new beginning.
**Lesson Learned:**
Sometimes kindness means leaving before love turns to resentment. A roof overhead isnt worth losing peace under it.
