{"id":15998,"date":"2025-10-07T18:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T18:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=15998"},"modified":"2025-10-07T18:48:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T18:48:43","slug":"15998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=15998","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Still, I never really let it get to me. Or at least, that\u2019s what I told myself. I kept my head down, sent the checks when they were needed, replied to the group texts, showed up for holidays armed with wine and a practiced smile, and absorbed the small jabs that always came dressed as jokes.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEli, you\u2019re so serious! Loosen up, man, it\u2019s just a party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOh, we figured you\u2019d be busy. You\u2019re\u00a0<\/span>always<\/span>\u00a0working.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I took it all in stride. I suppose a part of me, a naive, hopeful part, believed that if I just kept showing up, kept being reliable, one day I\u2019d be seen as an integral part of the family, not just the one funding it from the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

That illusion didn\u2019t just crack last fall. It shattered.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It started with a dinner. Mason had just gotten engaged to a woman named\u00a0<\/span>Brooke<\/span><\/strong>, a polished and ambitious marketing executive whom my mother had already dubbed \u201can absolute angel.\u201d To celebrate, my parents decided to throw a big, celebratory engagement dinner at\u00a0<\/span>Vistana<\/span><\/strong>, a swanky rooftop restaurant downtown with panoramic city views and a price tag to match. It was not the kind of place they could usually afford, which, in hindsight, should have been my first red flag.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still, I never really let it get to me. Or at least, that\u2019s what I told myself. I kept my head down, sent the checks when they were needed, replied to the group texts, showed up for holidays armed with wine and a practiced smile, and absorbed the small jabs that always came dressed as…<\/p>\n

Read More “”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":157,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16003,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15998\/revisions\/16003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}