I called Mom while I was shopping and asked, “Should I bring chocolate cake or apple pie for Christmas?” – Welcome

onto the table.

“So this is some kind of humiliation ritual?”

“No,” I said. “It’s a boundary.”

She turned toward me.

“You’ve been waiting for this.”

“I met you when you were thirty-one years old, Caroline. You disliked me before we even finished our first dinner because your father had remarried.”

“You married him for money.”

Richard exhaled sharply, but continue reading …