exclusion, the ingratitude, the accusation that I made everything about myself—she was still my little sister.
I still remembered her at eighteen, crying in my car the night Dad died, clutching my sleeve like I was the only solid thing left in the world.
So I made a terrible decision.
I gave Brandon three months.
If he truly ended it, Jessica would never know.
If he didn’t, I would find another way.
I know now how wrong that was.
But at the time, I was still trying to hold my
