Before I left, I made her a promise.
“You won’t have to worry about money while I’m gone.”
Every month, I sent most of what I could save nb back home.
Sometimes $1,800.
Sometimes $2,500.
Whenever hazardous-duty bonuses or extra allowances arrived, I sent those too.
By the time my deployment was almost finished, I had transferred close to $90,000.
Naomi never asked for that much.
But my mother, Denise, had moved in with her “temporarily” after I left because she said Naomi shouldn’t be alone.
A few months later, my twenty-seven-year-old sister Kendra moved in too after breaking up with her boyfriend.
At the time, I thought it was perfect.
Naomi would have family around her.
Mom would keep an eye on the house.
Kendra would help with errands.
