I thought about the boy who used to walk me to school when I was afraid of older kids.

How easily people can become versions of themselves they never meant to be.

“You need treatment,” I said. “Not money.”

He nodded, staring at the ground.

“Ninety days. A real program. If you commit, then we can talk about what comes next.”

He nodded again.

Mom was waiting near my car.

Without her careful poise, she looked smaller. Older. Fragile in a way I had never seen.

Her makeup had run.

The pearl necklace was in her hand now instead of around her neck.

“Did he leave anything for me?” she asked. “Any message?”

I could have softened it.

I didn’t.

“No,” I said. “He didn’t mention you.”

She flinched as if I had struck her.

“Thirty-five years,” she whispered. “I gave him thirty-five years.”

“He left the house to me not because he loved me more,” I said, “but because he knew you and Marcus would destroy it. And he was right.”

“I was doing what I thought was best for the family.”

“You were doing what was best for Marcus,” I said. “That’s not the same thing.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it.