I exhaled once through my nose.
“Yeah.”
“Do you resent her for that?”
The question surprised me enough that I answered without polishing it.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because she didn’t fire me. And because I’d do it again.”
He held my eyes.
“Even knowing what it cost?”
I thought of Nick.
Of the parking lot.
Of crying in my car.
Of Emily at the kitchen table.
Of Claire telling me to be brave.
Then I thought of Evelyn on the roadside, folding in on herself.
“Yes,” I said. “Even knowing.”
He nodded once, almost to himself.
Then he asked to see my portfolio.
That was where the room changed.
Recommendation got me there.
The work kept me there.
I walked him through campaigns I had led, accounts I had grown, clients I had retained, mistakes I had made and learned from.
I showed him the presentation from the previous day too.
