I Was Promised My 85-Year-Old Neighbor’s Inheritance for Caring for Her, but at the Will Reading She Left Me Nothing — Then the Next Morning, Her Lawyer Arrived and Said, “Actually, She Left You One Thing”

Gradually, without either of us acknowledging it, things shifted.

One night she made meatloaf so dry I drank three glasses of water trying to swallow it.

“This is awful,” I told her.

She pointed her fork at me. “Then die hungry.”

Sometimes in the evenings we watched game shows together. She shouted at contestants as if they could hear her through the television.