THE NIGHT WE PA.ID OFF OUR HOUSE, MY MOTHER-IN-LAW TOASTED: “NOW I CAN MAKE THIS HOUSE MY O.WN.” MY HUSBAND SMILED. BY MORNING, SHE WAS BEGGING HIM TO STOP ME.

It cc’d me. And Greg.

Greg was in the shower when it hit his phone.

I sat at the kitchen table and listened to the water running upstairs.

At 10:01, Greg’s phone started buzzing on the counter next to the coffee maker. He’d left it there when he went up.

MOM.

It stopped. Then it started again.

MOM.

Then a text. Then another. The screen lit up over and over.

Call me RIGHT NOW

What did she do

Gregory ANSWER YOUR PHONE

I didn’t touch it. I just watched it light up and go dark, light up and go dark, like a little lighthouse on my counter.

At 10:06, Marisol texted me.

She opened the email. Twice. And she just called my office and asked my receptionist if a wire transfer can be “un-sent.” Brace yourself.

I put my phone face-down on the table.

Upstairs, the shower shut off.

Greg’s phone buzzed one more time. Then it went quiet.