Jake chuckled, thinking Lisa was playing along. But as he read, his grin faded. “Wait… what is all this?” He squinted at the numbers, shock crossing his face. “$1,200 for a personal trainer? $700 a month for groceries? What the hell, Lisa?”

Lisa leaned against the kitchen island, arms crossed. “Well, you want me to wake up at 5 a.m., go to the gym, make gourmet breakfasts, clean, cook, and host your friends. We should budget for all of that, don’t you think?”
Jake stared at the total. “$75,000 a year? You’re quitting your job?!”

She shrugged. “How else can I follow your plan? I can’t work and be the ‘perfect wife,’ right?”

He looked at the pages, his confidence dissolving. “I… I didn’t mean…” He stammered, wide-eyed. “Lisa, I didn’t mean for it to be like this. I just thought…”

She held his gaze, her voice calm yet firm. “You thought what? That I could ‘improve’ myself like a project?” The hurt was clear as she continued. “Marriage isn’t about lists or routines. It’s about respect. And if you ever try to ‘fix’ me like this again, you’ll be paying a lot more than what’s on that paper.”

He stood, speechless, finally seeing the absurdity of his own demands.