He started a mentorship program.
I found out about it by accident. He had not told me because he was still, occasionally, cautious about things he was not sure I would value the way he did. He was getting better at this, at telling me things without calculating my reaction first, but it was a habit of years and habits took time.
Sandra mentioned it at a dinner for the firm's anniversary. "Marcus's program has four young developers in it now," she said. "Two of them just signed their first independent contracts."
I looked at him.
"You could have told me," I said later.
"I know," he said. "I didn't want it to seem like I was performing being a good person."
"The difference between performing and just being is whether you tell the people who matter," I said. "I'm not a judge. I'm your w
