The roof was still leaking, Carl was still ignoring it, and I had just pulled out the ladder when the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting visitors, and definitely not my brother Evan — pale, tired-eyed, and holding his cap like it was made of glass. “I’m in trouble,” he said, sitting down like the words themselves had weight. His landscaping business was collapsing, and he needed help — $150,000 worth. Against every instinct, I agreed. He was my brother, and we’d always believed in him.
A week later, while sipping coffee at Lulu’s Café, my friend showed me a photo of her newly engaged friend. The man next to her in the picture was Evan. Same grin, same face — arm around a woman with red nails and a rock-sized diamond ring on her finger. My heart dropped. The money I gave him wasn’t saving a business; it was buying fairy tales. I didn’t say a word. I drove straight to Evan’s house, stepping over takeout wrappers and broken promises.
He looked like regret in human form. When I confronted him, the truth spilled out: the business was failing, but the ring and luxury dates were for a woman he was desperate to keep. “She made me feel seen,” he said. “I just wanted her to stay.” I told him to come with me. We parked across from a high-end restaurant. That night, he watched the woman he loved laugh, kiss, and get proposed to — by someone else.
Back on his porch, Evan sat in silence, staring into the distance. “I’ll pay you back,” he whispered. “Every cent.” But I shook my head. “I didn’t come for the money. I came for my brother.” His eyes filled, and for the first time in a long while, I saw Evan — not the fool, not the liar, but the lost little brother trying to wake up from a dream that had turned into a nightmare.