Loving Cousin

Mom flushed as my heated words flew, and then tears appeared in her eyes. "The problem? How about the late night, drunken phone calls? How about you borrowing my car to pick her up from some one-night stand, when she's too drunk to get home by herself? How about the way she uses you to front her cash when her parents cut off her allowance, despite the fact that she probably earns more than I do and her parents could buy this house out of petty cash?"

I began to shake with anger. "You've never understood our friendship. She was there for me when it counted, unlike you."

When Dad died, Jules had been my rock that whole year. I practically lived at her house, often sleeping over for weeks at a time, because Mom could barely get herself out of bed. They even paid for me to go to summer camp with Jules because we'd been bankrupt by Dad's cancer treatments.

Mom turned to John. "I'm sorry you had to see this. I no longer have an appetite. Will you please finish cooking the eggs?" she asked t