She said our mother had mentioned where I worked, though she couldn’t quite explain how our mother had come to know the precise entrance to my department.

“I’ve apologized,” Brooke said. “More than once. And it’s been almost a year. At some point sisters have to stop punishing each other.”

I kept both hands at my sides. I did not take the coffee.

“You apologized because the consequences got uncomfortable for you,” I said. “You’ve never once said the actual thing — that you believed making us homeless would improve my judgment.”

Her eyes filled. “I was worried about the children. I thought if you went home, they’d have stability.”

“You watched those children stand on a porch with nowhere to sleep,” I said, “and then you called their mother impulsive.”