At first I had kept records so I could remember which expenses counted as gifts and which were meant to be repaid.

The first entry was a check for three thousand dollars to help Daniel repair a leaking roof.

Then came a car payment when his business slowed, a loan for inventory, and the first tuition transfer after Emma was accepted into a private school.

I spread the pages across the table.

Fourteen years of numbers traced an unsettling pattern.

Whenever Daniel told me he needed help for six months, the help became permanent.

Whenever his income increased, there was a new reason he could not resume paying.