Chapter 1

The letter had been sitting on Iris's kitchen counter for eleven days.

She had read it four times on the first day and not touched it since. She knew what it said. She didn't need to read it again. Her father's name at the top, her name below it, a number that made her stomach drop every time she thought about it, and a deadline that was now eleven days closer than when the letter arrived.

She had tried everything reasonable first. The bank said no. Her savings said no. Every person she could think of to call said no in different ways with different levels of sympathy...