Jake did not speak. His face had gone very red. The other three looked at him, not me. I let the silence sit for about six seconds. Then I said, "Derek. You next." Derek's head whipped toward me. I said, "The four thousand dollars I lent you in 2022 when you said your mother was sick and you needed help with her medical bills. You paid me back five hundred of it. You never paid back the rest. I asked you three times. The fourth time, in January of last year, you told me you would 'get to it when you could,' and you have not brought it up since. I have, since that conversation, been at dinners with you where you

paid for a bottle of wine that cost more than my monthly car payment. You went to Cabo with your wife in March. You bought a boat, Derek. You bought a boat. And you have not paid me back three and a half thousand dollars that I lent you when I believed you about your mother. I am not going to stop being your friend over the money. I am going to stop being your friend because I realized, six months ago, that the story about your mother was never true. My cousin Maya works at the hospital in Dallas where you said your mother was being treated. I asked her to look up the date. There was no record of your mother being there."