“Uncle Tai’s cool,” Lucas told me one night. “He talks to me like I’m a person, not a baby.”
I smiled.
“Yeah, he’s learning.”
Meanwhile, Melissa was quiet.
I didn’t hear from her directly, but through Tyler, I knew things weren’t going great for her.
Her husband’s insurance business was struggling.
The house payments were piling up.
Apparently, she’d even gone to our parents asking for another temporary loan.
And for once, Mom said no.
Tyler told me that Dad was furious after my post went viral.
Not just because of the attention, but because people at his church had recognized the story.
Word got around.
People whispered.
And that apparently was unacceptable for a man like him.
“They’re embarrassed,” Tyler said over the phone one night. “They care more about reputation than anything. You hit them where it hurts.”
“I didn’t mean to humiliate them,” I said.
