. They’d been asking about grandchildren since our wedding day five years ago, and tonight, finally, we had something to tell them.

My sister, Vanessa, had shown up uninvited. She’d somehow found out about the dinner from our mother and decided to crash it, sliding into the booth beside me with that poisonous smile she’d perfected over thirty-two years. She was two years older than me, and she’d spent my entire life making sure I knew it. Growing up, she’d stolen my friends, my boyfriends, even my college acceptance letter once, hiding it so I’d miss the deadline.