At 5:06 a.m., my sister walked into the house I bo…

Christina smiled when she saw me looking. “It’s done,” she said. “So let’s not drag this out.”

I put my coffee down and picked up the top page.

But not the way they thought I was reading it. I saw Jonathan’s color-coded tabs. I saw the parcel number in the upper corner.

I saw the county seal. I saw the property description. And in one quick, clean flash, I saw exactly what they had assumed.

My mother lifted her eyes to mine at last. “You’ve always been the strong one,” she said. “You land on your feet.

Christina needs this more.”

There it was. The old family math. I was the one who managed.