more alone. We walked into my parents' house, and the air was already thick with the smell of roasting tur

e room. She was standing with Kyle and his wife

s trip. They barely glanced at me and Ava. My wife, Susan, immediately detached from me and went to joi

y sleeve. "Dadd

tie. Let's go

he was arranging appetizers on a pla

ate," she said w

s bad. Can Ava

spoil her appetite." She brushed past us,

my mother had brought out. It was filled with pi

Eiffel Tower, sweetie!" my moth

an my monthly rent, let out a delicate laugh. She looked over

, a slight curl to her lip. "Children sh

y," I said, my

his own picture. "Maybe she takes afte

on't play on the floor, you'll get your dress dirty.

" I said, my voice l

r mom is right. Ava, come here." She pulled Ava away from her toy and made her sit

own wife was one of them. I turned and walked back to the kitchen, needing to escape. The sink was

of memory. I was back in this same kitchen, ten years old. My aunt had just brought over a

th it too," my mother had sai

ith a saccharine smile. "But Kyle

e power cord, and the console crashed to the floor, breaking. My aunt blamed me for b

ast piece of cake. Everything went to Kyle. My parents called it "being a good h

My aunt's husband had left her early on, and she used her status as a "struggling single mother" as a weapon. She guilt-tripped my parents into providing for Kyle

time betrayal. It was the culmination of thousands of smaller ones. They hadn't just stolen my mone

n't hot anymore. It was cold and hard, settling deep in my bones. They thought I w