My stepmother called and told me, “You’re banned from the family beach house. I changed every lock.” She sounded almost delighted. I simply replied, “Thanks for the update.” What she didn’t know was that my mom had placed the house in a private trust under my name before she passed away.

the victim now. Everyone is exhausted by your jealousy.”

There it was. Jealousy. Diana’s favorite word for me, the one she used the way some people used perfume—lavishly, constantly, and with the sole purpose of leaving it behind in every room she entered. I had heard it since I was seventeen, since the day she married my father with a white smile and continue reading …