Three days after I lost my job, Mom texted, “Your brother needs the apartment more than you do.” When I got home, his boxes were already in my bedroom, and Dad calmly said, “You’re unemployed. You can stay with a friend.”

what I said.”

“It’s exactly what you’re doing.”

Tyler put the shirts on my bed.

“Look, Jesse, I didn’t think you’d react like this.”

“How exactly did you think I’d react?”

He glanced at Mom.

That told me enough.

Then the front door opened.

Dad walked in without knocking.

Of course he did.

Robert Carter had spent my entire childhood entering rooms like uncertainty was simply the brief period before everybody agreed with him.

He surveyed the scene.

“Jesse, be reasonable.”

“I’ve been home for maybe five minutes.”

“Then don’t