At eight that evening, Grant let himself in through the kitchen door and went straight to the built-in desk nook beside the refrigerator.

Sophie was asleep upstairs with her gray stuffed rabbit tucked under her arm.

I sat at the wooden kitchen table with a pile of unpaid utility notices spread over the placemat.

“The electric bill is fourteen days overdue,” I said.

Grant didn’t look at me.

He pulled out the desk stool, woke the family desktop computer, and typed his administrator password into the main prompt.

“I’ve consolidated our household operating accounts under my main corporate tax ID,” Grant said in his quiet, even voice.