When my brother asked me for a favor, I agreed because someone I loved was depending on me. But shortly after I arrived at his house, I found something waiting in the kitchen that made me question what he really thought my help was worth.
My brother called me on a Tuesday night and opened with, “So, how’s the apartment hunt going?”
My grip tightened around the phone.
Ryan knew exactly how it was going, so I immediately wondered what he wanted.
I’d moved out of my place in March and had been staying with a friend while I looked for something permanent.
“Slowly. Why?”
“Because, listen, Steph and I are going to Portugal. Ten days. And I really don’t want to board the dogs. Bear’s too old for that now.”
There it was.
Ryan had brought up my housing situation at every family gathering since March, usually in front of everyone and always in that concerned voice.
Now, it sounded less like concern and more like preparation.
“I’d have to check my shifts,” I told him.
“It’s not really work though, is it?” he replied. “You’d be staying in the house. Four bedrooms, the yard, the whole thing to yourself.”
He paused before adding, “Honestly, you’d be doing yourself a favor more than us.”
I almost laughed.
Ryan had two dogs.
Bear was a 12-year-old Rottweiler who needed medication twice a day, while Nell was a spaniel who was terrified of the kitchen floor and needed encouragement to cross it.
They needed four walks between them every day.
Ryan’s house was also 40 minutes from my workplace, in completely the wrong direction.
None of that sounded like a vacation.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
TAP ” READ MORE ” 👇
