She didn’t check her phone again until the following morning. Instead, she treated herself to a quiet dinner at the ship’s specialty restaurant, enjoying every bite of a meal she hadn’t cooked, cleaned up after, or paid for anyone else to enjoy. The ocean stretched endlessly beyond the windows while she savored the rare comfort of having no demands waiting at the table. Only after breakfast did she finally unlock her phone. Forty-three unread messages filled the screen, beginning with confused questions before quickly turning into angry accusations. Her mother’s texts were frantic, her father’s were desperate, and Weston’s messages grew more frantic with every passing hour.

As she scrolled, the truth unraveled. The property taxes she had quietly covered for two years had gone unpaid. Weston admitted the mortgage assistance she had always sent was suddenly missing, forcing him to explain everything to Paige, who had never realized how much her sister-in-law had been carrying. She stared at the screen for a long moment before opening the family group chat and beginning to type.