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“Yeah. It clears my mind. I have all my best ideas when I’m running.”

“And what are you working on at the moment?” Hopefully that’s a sufficiently broad question that I haven’t tripped myself up.

“I’m focused on taking the company public.”

I try to disguise my shock. “Right. That’s a big project.”

“It is. And we’ve only just started the process. It will take a year of preparation to really be ready, but we’re already regulated so we have the right systems in place.”

“Regulated?”

“I mean it’s state by state and not federal, but yeah, we’re regulated.”

“Right,” I say. Is now a good time to admit I have no idea what my brother does for a living? “Regulated and you’re going public.”

Bray chuckles and slaps me on the back. “USA Sports Betting Inc. You should look us up.” He slides off his stool and excuses himself to go to the loo.

I pull out my phone and look up USA Sports Betting Inc. as Bray suggested. It’s online gambling. Any sport. Anywhere in the world. I put my brother’s name in the search bar, but it times out. Is he the chief technology officer or something? Maybe something more junior. He’s young, right?

Then I close down the page and just search my brother’s name.

And he appears on my browser: chairman and chief executive of USA Sports Betting Inc.

There must be some kind of mistake.

I close down that window and open a fresh one, then type in his name again. Chairman and chief executive. There it is again. Then I search for financial information about the company. There’s not much online, but that makes sense because it’s a private company.

At that moment, Bray comes back to the bar.

“So I looked you up,” I say. There’s no point in pretending that I knew all of this stuff about my brother before he went to the loo. I clearly didn’t.

Bray doesn’t say anything. He just slides back onto his seat.

“Looks like you’re doing pretty well. Why do you want to float?”

“My investors want to realize their investment, and…I did what I set out to do. I took advantage of the change in law in 2018, and we’ve gone through this massive growth curve, but that’s over now. It’s steady state from here. And that doesn’t excite me. So, we can float. I can take some of my money and go and invest it somewhere else.”

“Sounds like you have it all planned out.”

“I’m just focused on the IPO at the moment. One step at a time.”

“So you’re going to be rich,” I say.

A small smile curls around Bray’s lips. “I’m already rich. But the IPO will be a boost to the bank balance, there’s no doubt about that.”

How is it possible that I didn’t know anything about my own brother’s success?

“Sports bar. Now I get why, if it’s your pick, you always take me to these places.”

Bray laughs. “It’s good to understand the end consumer.”

The number of times I’ve offered to help Bray out over the years, he’s always said no to me. I can’t help but think of Avril. She wants to prove to her older brother that she’s not a baby anymore, that she can make it on her own. Is this what’s happening here? Do Bray and I not talk about things because he doesn’t want me weighing in or giving unsolicited advice? Maybe it’s because he never needed my help. Whatever the reasons, I couldn’t be prouder of my little brother.

“So after the IPO, when you have all this extra cash, you think you might invest in a couple of restaurants?” I ask Bray.

“You need a job?” He nudges me with his elbow.

I laugh and clink my beer bottle against his.