“Help me,” he said.
Not “I’m sorry.”
Just “help me.”
So I gave him the only help that mattered.
“A job,” I said. “Construction site. 6 a.m. No shortcuts.”
He looked insulted.
Maybe he was.
But it was the first honest offer I’d given him.
He walked away.
At first.
Then one morning, he came back.
Hard hat in hand.
“Where do I start?”
And for the first time in his life—