The screen lit up, showing three missed calls from an unknown number.

I didn’t recognize the number, but the area code was from Illinois.

My thumb hovered over the screen.

Before I could dial my mother’s number, the phone began to vibrate in my palm.

The same unknown Illinois number was calling again.

I pressed the screen to answer and held the phone to my ear.

“Sarah?” a voice said.

It wasn’t my mother.

It was my father.

“Dad?” I said.

“Sarah, I’m glad I caught you,” he said, his voice unusually low.

He sounded like he was speaking from a closet or a very quiet room.

“Are you at your dinner?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Dad, what is going on?”

“I wanted to warn you,” he said, his breath catching.

“Warn me about what?” I asked.

“Your mother,” he said. “She has been on the phone with Arthur all day.”

“I know,” I said. “We saw the share purchase offers.”

“She didn’t want me to tell you,” my father said.

“Why is she doing this, Dad?” I asked. “She told us the company was a waste of our degrees.”