Mom was just thinking about the whole family. If you disagreed, you could've talked it out.
Are you trying to ruin the New Year on purpose? Cassandra, I really underestimated you. You're unbelievably selfish!
I didn't reply.
He called. Once. Twice. Three times.
I powered off my phone.
When I'd first won the lottery, I'd been elated—genuinely, breathlessly happy.
My mother had a tumor in her brain. Surgery and recovery would cost at least three hundred thousand dollars.
And just last week, Abner's checkup had come back with a shadow on his lung. Suspected cancer.
I'd thought it was fate. Heaven never seals off all the exits. This money could save both of them.
But before I could even sit down with Abner to discuss it, that mama's boy had already made promises to his mother behind my back.
Fine.
Call it pride. Call it spite. But that money was mine, and I would protect it.
The drive took an hour and forty minutes. I called my mother on the way.
"I'm bringing Rosemary home for dinner."
"Now? Aren't you supposed to be having New Year's Eve dinner at your in-laws'?"
"We had a falling out."
Silence. Two heartbeats.
"There's plenty of food. Come home."
Four words. My eyes burned.