“And because I knew how bad the answer sounded.”

He described the pressure he had felt since the birth of his first child.

He wanted to be successful, to provide everything he imagined good fathers should provide.

When business profits didn’t match the image, he turned to me.

My help allowed him to avoid the humiliation of admitting he couldn’t afford some choices.

Eventually he and Claire built a lifestyle around money neither of them had earned.

He wasn’t asking me to pity him, he said.