But while the request was the same, his tone was different. On all the other calls he’d tried to persuade us. Now he was trying to guilt us. “Is this you or is this Derick who is being the problem here?” I’d never heard Pops say something like that before, and it pierced like a dagger to hear him try to pit us against each other like that. I was speechless. “This isn’t like you, Sweet Jilly Muffin. Is Derick behind this? Are you having problems financially? Are you depressed?” I could feel Derick tensing beside me. “Pops,” he said, his voice calm and controlled. “We really aren’t trying to
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