“You’re just so jealous of your sister,” my dad said, his voice dripping with disappointment. “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it?”

I stood in my parents’ living room in Louisville, Kentucky, clutching my phone so tightly my fingers ached. From the couch, my mother let out a sharp laugh that sliced through the tension like broken glass. She glanced at my father and shook her head, the way she used to when I was a kid complaining about something trivial.

“I’m not going to the wedding,” I said again, forcing my voice to stay calm even as anger simmered beneath it. “I have my reasons.”Continue reading…