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“Gavin?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

I sit on the loveseat and he takes the chair opposite me, wincing after taking a sip of the drink that I made.

“By the way, your taste in booze hasn’t improved since high school,” he notes.

“Neither has my taste in men.”

He chuckles and my stomach somersaults. I don’t know what it’s going to take to break the ice, but I’m determined to do it.

“You’re still really mad at me,” I say, taking a big sip of the liquid courage that I’m sure will be required for this conversation. “Why don’t you just ask me what you want to know?”

He stares into the mug like spiked hot chocolate is the most interesting thing he’s ever seen, and then his attention moves to the flames in the woodstove before finally landing on me.

“Did you know what your dad was doing?” he asks.

The familiar clench of anxiety grips my insides as I’m forced to reflect on the worst time in my life. This is a conversation that should have happened years ago, and I never thought I’d actually be faced with saying the words.

“I eventually figured it out,” I admit, my body tensing to prepare for the inevitable judgment.

“You couldn’t have agreed with it. So, why didn’t you say anything? Warn people?”

Warn him.

It’s unspoken, but the question rings out loud and clear.

And maybe I should have, but it wasn’t a risk that I could comfortably take. Not with so much on the line.

“Because Brady was dying,” I reply.

Gavin’s eyes narrow and he leans forward in his seat, staring at me hard.

“He was diagnosed with lymphoma,” I continue. “Dad had to take so much time off work for Brady’s appointments that he got fired and lost his health benefits. He was desperate. We all were.”

Shock briefly paints Gavin’s face – and hurt, a whole lot of hurt – before he shutters his expression. “You never told me.”

“I know,” I admit. “Talking about Brady’s illness made it real and I just… I couldn’t. You were my escape from the hell of my home life.”

He looks away, and I hate being responsible for causing him pain.

“Dad met an investor who was offering him a job that sounded too good to be true,” I continue. “And, well, it was. But Dad was so excited to take part in the business. Even he thought it was legit at first, or else he deluded himself into believing it was real.”

“All he got out of it was prison and destroying your family’s reputation.”

I shake my head because it’s not true. “He also saved Brady. We were able to afford treatment at the best hospital in the state with the money he earned–”

“The money hestole,” Gavin corrects.

Maybe.

But my brother’s life was hanging in the balance. Now he’s an adult living it to the fullest rather than being dead and buried.

“And then everything came crashing down around us,” I say. “The rest of the money was seized, of course, but Brady’s treatment was working. Saving his life. We had already lost my mom and couldn’t stand to lose Brady, too.”