Chapter 15
At work, my supervisor offered me additional leave. I took two days and returned because the ordinary demands of my own life helped me remember that I existed beyond that ballroom.
Reed came for dinner on Wednesday. He arrived with groceries rather than flowers.
"You said you were tired of things that needed a vase," he explained.
It was such a small act of listening that I nearly cried.
He also brought a printed photograph from the slideshow. My mother was laughing beneath her garden hat, one hand lifted to keep it from blowing away.
"Wendy sent me the originals," he said. "I thought you might want this somewhere you could see it."
I put it on the kitchen shelf, beside the clock she had given me when I bought the house.
For the first time since the dinner, looking at that picture reminded me of her laugh before it reminded me of Avery's announcement. I stood there until the memory settled into its proper place.
We cooked together. For once, neither of us discussed Grant until after the dishes were done.
"I keep thinking about how quickly he tried to decide what happened to you," Reed said.
"He thought you'd let him."
"I know."
He rested his hands on the kitchen table.
"I need to change more than who has access to the hotel accounts. I've let him make me smaller because arguing seemed worse."
I looked at him.
"What happens when he asks you for help?"
"Anything about the company goes through the people handling it. Anything personal requires boundaries I can actually keep."
"Even if your mother is upset?"
"Even then."
He wasn't making a theatrical promise to never speak to his brother again. He was describing decisions he would have to keep making when the witnesses were gone.
That was something I could begin to trust.
Avery requested a meeting two weeks after the dinner. I agreed to a short conversation with Joan present, after confirming through counsel that it would not replace or interfere with the formal processes.
She arrived wearing no makeup, carrying a folder rather than a pregnancy test.
"I'm sorry," she said.
I waited.
"I knew you would ask questions about the accounts. Grant said you would take Reed away, and everything we'd planned would disappear."
"What had you planned?"
"A life together."
"With money from work nobody did."
She looked down.