My sister pulled my chair away at her wedding reception and looked me straight in the eyes. "This table is for family, not you."

Liam came to the diner that evening.

He stood in the doorway holding the reception folder Vanessa had shown him. He looked as though he had not slept.

“Can I speak with Nora?” he asked.

Grandma and Dad were in the office with Ms. Reyes. I led Liam to a booth where they could see us through the glass.

“I heard about the transfer,” he said.

“How?”

“Vanessa told me you were accusing her. I asked to see the records.”

“Did she show you?”

“She showed me a receipt.”

He slid it across the table. It was from Harbor Provisioning, dated the day before the money left our account. The amount matched.

I photographed it for Ms. Reyes.

“Where did Vanessa get this?” I asked.

“She said her assistant emailed it.”

“Did you see the email?”

“No.”

Liam rubbed his face. “I’m asking because the wedding planner called me this morning. Vanessa still owes the hotel a payment.”

I looked at him.

“She told me her event company had covered it,” he said. “Now I’m wondering what money she used.”

Vanessa had built her business arranging corporate celebrations and expensive weddings. Her own wedding had filled the hotel ballroom with flowers. I had thought Liam and Vanessa were paying for it together.

“What did she tell you about the Blue Lantern?” I asked.

“That her father had asked her to handle an investment. She said you wanted to focus on the kitchen and didn’t like the business side.”

“I would have wanted to know who was paying for my ovens.”

“I believe you.”

He looked down at the receipt. “I love her. I don’t know how much she has lied to me.”

I had no answer. Vanessa had been my sister all my life. I knew what it felt like to keep waiting for her words to match her actions.

Ms. Reyes came out of the office. I showed her the receipt. She compared it with the invoice.

“The supplier’s address is different,” she said.

Liam leaned closer. “Could they have two offices?”

“We’ll contact them.”

She called the number on the receipt. A woman answered and confirmed that Harbor Provisioning sold restaurant equipment. Then Ms. Reyes gave her the invoice number.

“We haven’t issued an invoice with that number,” the woman said. “Would you email me a copy?”

Ms. Reyes did.

A few minutes later, the woman called back. The receipt was false. Their company had never sold us anything.

Liam stared at the table.

“I need to speak to my wife,” he said.

He took a photograph of the receipt and left.

Dad emerged from the office, looking older than he had the day before.

“I gave Vanessa signing authority because I thought she was better at this than I was,” he said.

“You could have asked Grandma for help.”

“I didn’t want her to think I’d failed.”

Grandma came up behind him. “And now?”

“Now she knows.”

“Yes,” Grandma said. “I do.”

Ms. Reyes advised Dad to revoke Vanessa’s access to the restaurant accounts while the transfers were reviewed. Claire’s company had paused its deal and asked for the deposit back if the documents proved false.

Dad called the bank with Ms. Reyes beside him. I could hear how difficult it was for him to say Vanessa’s name. He did it anyway.

When the call ended, he came into the kitchen.

“I should have told you about Aster,” he said to me.

“Yes.”

“I let Vanessa describe your work as occasional because it made the expansion plan easier to sell.”

I set down the towel in my hand.

“You knew she was pushing me out.”

“I thought they’d still need you once the new places opened. I told myself you would get a better position.”

“You never asked whether I wanted one.”

“I know.”

He waited, perhaps hoping I would say we could move past it. I could not.

“Please keep helping Ms. Reyes,” I said. “That’s what I need from you now.”