The text was from father. I stopped myself before I opened it. I won’t have him ruin my day while he isn’t even here. I decided to go downstairs and enjoy my breakfast with Evelyn before reading his message.

When I got to the kitchen, Evelyn was trying and failing to make breakfast. The entire kitchen was a hot mess with plates strewn everywhere, macaroni lined the floors and it was like a pound of cheese was thrown all over the counter, and there was burning bacon on the gas. She saw me and squealed and tried to block me from seeing the mess.

I simply crossed my hands over...