If you cannot accept those boundaries, you will not be welcome in this house.”

“Ethan Donnelly, after everything I have sacrificed for you!” Sylvia shouted, her tone cracking with bitter disbelief.

“Goodbye, Mom,” Ethan said.

He pressed his thumb against the red icon on the screen and cut the call.

He picked up the phone, held down the power button until the screen shut off entirely, and laid it face down on the table beside June’s medical logbook.

“Both calls are finished,” he said flatly.