I sat down.
“How much do you owe?”
Nathan stared at the floor.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Estimate.”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me a number.”
He took a breath.
“Maybe eighty thousand.”
I stared at him.
“Maybe?”
“Some of it is credit cards. Some is personal loans. Some is money I borrowed.”
“From who?”
“Friends.”
“Who?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked at Margaret.
She looked away.
“You borrowed from your mother too?”
Nathan nodded.
“How much?”
Margaret finally spoke.
“About twelve thousand.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I had spent months wondering why our money disappeared so quickly.
Why Nathan always needed another $200.
Another $500.
Another emergency.
Another reason to delay paying something.
It hadn’t been one disaster.
It had been dozens of small lies.
Stacked on top of each other.
Until the lies became a life.
I looked at him.
“And Rachel?”
His eyes closed.
