Anybody could have done that.”

I felt the old urge to defend every late-night payroll run, every collection call, every contract I’d negotiated while caring for a sick parent and keeping our household together.

Then I looked at Julian and saw that he was already shaking his head.

“Mom,” he said, “you don’t get to rewrite twenty-eight years because you prefer the version where Mark does everything.”

Ofelia pointed at Stephen.