I looked at the sunlight on the courthouse steps, the yellow pine pollen lodged in the cracks of the concrete.

“I’m not going to stand out here swapping insults with you, Patricia.

The money’s mine.

The house is mine.

If you call my job one more time, my lawyer will be the one who answers.”

Her rings clicked as she straightened them.

“You have no idea what you’ve set in motion.”

“Mother, please,” Spencer said.