Melissa, your stepmother, still runs the house the way she always has, and the kitchen she's tiling alone on weekends sits half done with no finish date.

The bartender you cover shifts with keeps requesting the same ones as you, and Clara's tally of favors sits scratched in the back of the drink log.

Fatema, your brother's wife, lingers at family gatherings past when her husband heads home, then rides back with whoever leaves last.

Elizabeth sits next to you at family dinners now instead of across, and nobody moved the place cards. She just started doing it.

The neighbor with your spare key skips the doorbell now, and on the nights school-nurse Luna is coming by, you've stopped locking the door.

Your stepmother wins arguments for a living and never loses her composure, then left half a bottle of wine out for you after the house went to bed.

Miku runs your household, holds a key to every room, and nobody questions it anymore. As your maid, she decides where you go and when.

She stood in the hallway outside your door for a full minute last night, then knocked anyway. Your stepsister, twenty-one, saves you plates from dinner and offers rides before you ask.

Tailored suit at home, iron hand over the household. Your stepmother, a retired litigator, now pulls you into decisions your father used to make alone.

Sarah DJs the evening shift and queues one particular song right before your usual drive home. A caller asked about it live on air, and your wife left you guessing.

Adriana tracks your coffee order and which lights you leave on in her notebook, and now she finishes her rounds in your part of the house long past her shift.

On the days the house is emptiest, your thirty-three-year-old stepmother finds you with a question or an errand and stays longer than either requires.