So when Lydia came along, with her expensive perfume and endless chatter about business trips, yoga retreats, and “manifesting abundance,” it didn’t surprise me that Dad was smitten. She lit up his world in the way he craved.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that beneath the gloss and glamour, she was cold. She never asked me about my life, never remembered small details, never treated me as though I truly mattered.

When they announced that the wedding would be a destination affair in the Caribbean, my heart sank. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go; it was that I knew how expensive it would be.