Shabbos would be a great starting point. Her earnings from an Akeres Shabbos had always been considered “extra”

Leebie’s eyes were trained on her screen, but the information reached her vision as one big blur.

It was almost impossible to concentrate on nurse schedules with a whole unrelated set of numbers floating through her mind.

There were two problems, she noted grimly, now that she’d parted from her eternity band dream. The first would be coming up with the actual money to cover Yehudis’s rent. The second, coming up with the money discreetly. She couldn’t simply shave off a portion of her paycheck, even if they could somehow scrape by like that, because how would she explain to Amram where the money was going?

She dragged her mouse over her second screen at random, drawing blue squares over Yehudis and Sruly’s wedding picture, as a small voice whispered in her ear. Shabbos.

It was kind of obvious. Shabbos would be a great starting point. Her earnings from an Akeres Shabbos had always been considered “extra.” Amram knew about it, obviously, but he regarded it as Leebie’s petty cash and didn’t keep such close tabs on where every penny went.

Leebie rolled her mouse wheel absently.

Shabbos, okay. But she really did use that money for miscellaneous expenses. If she was missing these funds, Amram would sense something was off. Besides, one Akeres Shabbos a month wasn’t nearly enough to cover her new commitment.

The pressure made her dizzy, but at the same time, it filled her with a strange kind of thrill. This was really what she’d always wanted: to give to her children, to maybe spoil them a bit. To sacrifice for them. To be that kind of awesome storybook mother.

She rubbed her eyes in circles to clear the fog. If she didn’t get her work done, there would be no paycheck at all. Forget awesomeness.