She’d defend Skylar and then suggest I just let my sister handle the estate. I didn’t want to hear it, so I let that call go to voicemail as well.

Hours later, I reached my small apartment near the base. The place was sterile and barely lived in, because I was rarely there long enough to make it feel like a real home.

I dropped my bag on the floor and sat on the edge of my bed in the silence. I thought about calling someone from my unit, but I didn’t know how to explain what had happened.

The next morning, my mother showed up at my door without any warning. She looked tired, but her hair was perfectly sprayed into place and she wore her usual pearl earrings.

She walked in without waiting for an invitation and set her purse on my small table. “Riley, your sister feels terrible about the things she said yesterday.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Does she feel terrible, or do you just feel terrible about how it looked to the rest of the family?”