There on the coffee table stood a bunch of flowers in a vase. And against it leaned an envelope. She looked back at Steve, surprised. “But it’s not my birthday.”

“I know. Go on, open the envelope.”

She took it and pulled out the card inside. When she unfolded it, a piece of paper fell out. She caught it. A check. For fifty thousand dollars.

In disbelief, she stared at her brother. “What is this?”

“The money you lent me.”

Her heart beat faster. “But you need that. For the loan shark. What if he—”

“He waived my debt.”

“What?” Had she heard correctly? “That’s impossible.”

He grinned. “It’s not. He gave me my IOU back and told me the debt is repaid.”

She shook her head. “But that’s not possible. Something like that doesn’t just happen out of the blue.”

“Apparently it does. Maybe he realized that it was unfair to demand the money back from me since it wasn’t my fault that I lost it all. Or maybe Tom put in a good word for me.” He pointed to the check in her hand. “So I won’t need your money anymore. I don’t know how to thank you. You’re always there for me when I need you.”

She put her arm around him and squeezed him. “That’s what siblings are for.”

“And so you know that I’m not as much of a loser as you always think, I’ve taken your words to heart and gotten a real job.”

She stared at him in surprise. “A job?”

He nodded eagerly and she could tell that he was proud of himself. “Yes. A real position. With a great salary and everything that goes with it. Now you won’t have to worry about me anymore.”

“Oh, Steve, that’s wonderful.” It was a relief that at last her brother had met with some good luck. “How did you get the job?”

He grinned. “Pure coincidence. So this guy calls me, says he’s the human resources director of this company and that he’s seen my resume on one of those internet job boards and thinks I’d be the perfect candidate for a job that just opened up.”

“When did you post your resume on an internet job board? You never told me about that.” And she’d urged him to do just that for such a long time.

He shrugged. “I don’t remember. Doesn’t matter now. Anyway he immediately invited me to an interview. And, you know, with everything going down the drain, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I went.” He grinned. “I’m so glad I did. They want me to run this small department. Just three people under me, but I’m supposed to find lucrative business ventures for the company. Isn’t that great? That’s exactly what I’m into. And they’re paying me a pretty penny for it, too.”

Steve was more than just excited. He seemed ecstatic. And she couldn’t believe it herself. It sounded too good to be true. Her investigator brain kicked in immediately. “Are you sure that it’s not some scam?”

Steve huffed. “Come on. Can’t you be happy for me?”

“Of course I want to be happy for you. But…” She sighed. Had her own situation made her so suspicious that she saw deception behind every good thing? For her brother’s sake, she forced herself to smile. “Of course, I’m happy for you.” She threw her arms around him and squeezed him to her. “If it weren’t so late already, I’d invite you out to dinner to celebrate…”

He waved her off. “No worries. We’ll celebrate later. I’d better go home now. I want to go shopping tomorrow to buy myself a nice suit for work. I think they dress really conservatively at Zinfluence. And I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Zinfluence?”

“Yeah, that’s what the company is called.”

“Hmm.” Somehow the name sounded familiar. That was probably a good thing. At least that meant the company actually existed. And if she’d heard its name before, it probably meant that it was traded on the New York Stock Exchange. “Do you have enough money to buy yourself something decent?”

He grinned. “No problem. They’ve given me an advance on my first month’s salary.”

Her chin dropped. “How come?”

“I think they don’t want me to change my mind. Rochelle, I can’t tell you how I feel. Finally somebody recognizes that I’m good at something.”

She ruffled his hair. “I always knew that.”

“Thanks, Rochelle.” He turned to leave, but hesitated. “And if you want to talk after all… you know, about the guy who’s the reason that you cried, I’m here for you day and night.”