My Parents Doubled My Rent So My Unemployed Sister Could Move In, So I Moved Out and Took Everything

of coffee and sawdust and fresh paint.

Zoe, my right hand, looked up as I walked in.

“You okay?” she asked, voice careful.

“My mother cut me off,” I said, hanging my coat on the hook. “Then called fourteen times to take it back.”

Zoe blinked. “Want coffee?”

“Yes,” I said, and I surprised myself with the small smile that came with it. “Desperately.”

At lunch,continue reading …