My Sister Told Me to Clean Her Shoes at the Country Club. I Threw Them Away and Drove Home. Weeks Later, I Had 49 Missed Calls.

gift—a first edition of a book she’d mentioned loving years ago, something I’d spent weeks tracking down. She opened it with the distracted air of someone who’s already received too many presents to properly appreciate any of them.

“Oh, how thoughtful,” she said in a tone that suggested it was anything but. “You know Amanda got me a weekend at that continue reading …