After Graduation, I Took One Quiet Step to Protect My Future—It Turned Out to Matter

is all we have.”

I went because refusing would have been suspicious. I sat at the table that had never felt like mine, eating pot roast that tasted like obligation, while Ashley talked about her latest “business opportunity”—something involving cryptocurrency and essential oils that was definitely a scam but that my parents were funding anyway.

“So, continue reading …