My Parents Chose a Birthday Dinner Over My Family’s Funeral—Then They Asked for Thirty Percent of the $18.7 Million Settlement

At first, I told myself leaving it unchanged kept the last ordinary morning from moving farther away.

Later, I stopped explaining it.

Margaret looked at the mug, then at me.

She did not reach for it this time.

I turned on the tap.

Warm water became hot, and steam lifted against the window.

“I can do it,” she said quietly.

“I know.”