I Sent My Parents $550 Every Friday Until They Said My Family Didn’t Count the Same

which Marcus had suggested, gently, in the way he suggested things when he knew I needed to do them but was not sure I would remember.

“Lily’s birthday is October fifteenth,” I told her. “A Saturday, two in the afternoon. Can you and Dad make it?”

There was the sound of pages turning, a brief pause. “October fifteenth. Yes, that should work. We’ll be continue reading …