Diana Hale wanted a chance from me. I’d learned a long time ago that wanting something and actually deserving it were two very different things. I stayed professional through the rest of the luncheon.
I made polite conversation with the women around me, asked real questions about the charity, and actually listened to their answers. The work mattered more than the ugly shadow of the Hale name. I smiled where I was supposed to, gave away nothing important, and when it was finally over, I thanked Diana warmly and left her with nothing she could use.
She accepted it with that calm, patient grace of someone who’d expected exactly this… and knew how to wait. On the drive home, her words kept echoing in my head.”I would have chosen differently.”
The scary part was I believed she truly meant i
