My grandma, Marilyn, is the sweetest, most generous person I know. She’s the kind of woman who bakes cookies for the neighbors just because, who never forgets a birthday, and who insists on slipping a $20 bill into my purse even though I’m a grown adult with a full-time job.

“Doris, honey, just take it,” she’d say whenever I protested. “It makes me happy to help out.”

That’s Grandma. Always thinking of everyone else first.

This is exactly why when my aunt Lori, her own daughter, pitched the idea of a joint family vacation to “spend precious moments together,” my grandma was over the moon.

“Can you believe it?” Grandma called me, her voice bubbling with excitement. “Lori wants us all to go on vacation together! She says we need to make memories while we still can.”

I remembered feeling a twist in my stomach. “That’s… unexpected. Aunt Lori suggested this?”

“Yes! Isn’t it wonderful?” Grandma gushed. “She says she wants quality time with her mother. And Rachel’s coming too!”

What Grandma didn’t realize? Aunt Lori wasn’t planning a trip for family bonding. She was planning a cash grab.

I should have seen it coming. Aunt Lori had a history of showing up only when she needed something. Birthday parties? Absent. Holidays? Only if there were expensive gifts involved.