me occupied.
“Was I supposed to receive paperwork yesterday?” I asked.
Silence.
Mr. Hale answered carefully.
“Yes.”
I looked through the motel window.
“My mail.”
Dad said nothing.
“Where is the letter?”
Mom whispered something I couldn’t make out.
Then Madison exploded.
“I threw it away!”
Everyone went silent.
My heart hammered.
“You what?”
“It was ruining everything!” she screamed. “Dad said the trust changed when you turned twenty-five and then everything was going to become complicated!”
Dad shouted, “Madison!”
But she kept going.
“You were already getting a whole
