“Ay, okay,” I grumbled, taking the phone from my friend. “I’ll just tell her I’ll call her later. You know she’ll just keep calling until I confirm that I’m not dead in a ditch.” Julia chuckled in commiseration knowing her own mother was not that much different.

Alba: Ma, I’m fine.

Reassuring my mother that I wasn’t in an emergency room because I had not responded to her call within seconds was first and foremost.

Alba: I’m just finishing something up with Julia. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.

Mami: I thought something had happened to you! Can you help me with the bank? I can’t get into it. You know I don’t know how to do it.

The flare of annoyance and guilt coursed through me, but I resisted just hitting the call button. My mother was almost sixty years old and had run her own home cleaning business for twenty years. She would have to learn the password to access her own damn money. It was time.

Alba: Ma, text Miguel, he’ll help you.

Mami: Ay, I don’t want to bother him for that.

Again I smothered the frustration and tapped my phone.

Alba: Ma, it’s his job to do that!

After years of tag teaming my mom we’d been able to convince her to hire a bookkeeper, but she still acted like she was asking him for a favor whenever we needed him to do something.

In any other circumstance I would’ve just done it for her. But today it seemed critical to take care of my needs first.

Alba: I’ll text Evie to help you and I’ll hit you up when I’m done over here.

Without waiting for an answer I fired off a text to my sister Evangelina.

Alba: Yo! Could you please get your ass out of your gaming chair and help mom get into the bank account?

Evie: Argh! I told Mami not to text you for that shit while you’re in Dallas. She’s so terca!

That made me smile because though my little sister could be a brat, she’d been militant about letting me have my time in Dallas to myself. I was grateful for her willingness to help, but it was also not easy for me or for my mom to let go of the roles we each had in the family. Evie was the baby. I was the one who took care of things for everyone.

Evie: I’ll go help her, but you owe me and by owe me, I mean you better show up here with a bag full of designer clothes from that fancy store you’re going to work in.

Evie and my abuela already knew about the offer to renovate the library. My mother...that was another story. But first, I needed to send this email.