"Sarah, there is a fifteen thousand dollar charge on my Amex from a catering company. Please tell me there has been some kind of mistake."

There was a pause. Then she laughed. Not a nervous laugh. A genuine, unbothered laugh, as if I had just said something mildly amusing at a dinner party.

"Oh, that," she said. "Yeah, I used your card for the catering deposit. Derek and I were completely over budget and I knew you had the limit for it. Don't stress, it'll be fine."

I asked her to repeat what she had just said, because I genuinely could not process it. She repeated it, word for word, with the same casual tone a person might use to say they borrowed a pen.

"Sarah, you used my credit card without asking me. That is fraud."

"It's not fraud, it's family," she said. "You make six figures. You can afford it. Just consider it your wedding gift to us."

I told her she had exactly one hour to call the catering company, cancel the charge, and get a full refund processed back to my card. I told her I was serious. I told her that if she did not do it, I would handle it myself.

She told me the deposit was non-refundable.

Then she hung up.