“What does it feel like to be completely useless?”…

“I’m really sorry.”

“We all stumble sometimes,” I told him. “We all need a little grace. That’s what family is for.”

I wired them the money that very night.

$4,200. I didn’t ask any questions, and I certainly didn’t pass any judgment. In my heart, I was just helping them catch their breath.

I imagined them sitting on their couch afterward, the weight lifting from their shoulders. Maybe Iris would curl up next to him and they’d talk about the future again instead of how to keep the lights on. They never mentioned it again.

There was no thank you dinner, no handwritten note, no acknowledgment of the weight I had quietly lifted from their shoulders. The next time I came over, Iris was wearing new shoes and talking about a “soft launch event” at the boutique. The mortgage scare slid into the shadows, unspoken.