Everything that came after for me was grace.
Unexpected grace.
But grace, by its nature, can’t be demanded.
Only received.
What I can claim is smaller than that and more important.
On the worst day of my professional life, when doing the right thing cost me the job I had worked years to keep, I did not lose the part of myself my daughters deserve to know.
And in the long run, that turned out to be worth more than the desk, the title, the terrified obedience, or the approval of a man like Nick ever could have been.
I don’t know what happened to Nick after that.
People asked me later.
Some former coworkers reached out after hearing I had landed somewhere better.
One mentioned the agency lost more clients.
Another said turnover got worse.
Someone else said Nick blamed everybody but himself.
Maybe all true.
Maybe not.