The Apology Without a Request
Chapter 12 - The Apology Without a Request
Grant made coffee.
Terrible coffee.
I took one sip.
"This tastes like legal punishment."
He laughed.
Then we both became quiet.
There was too much history in the room.
Grant sat across from me.
"I owe you an apology."
"I know."
"I believed my father because believing him cost me less."
That sentence surprised me.
He continued.
"If I believed you, then I had to question my father, my job, my childhood, everything. So I told myself I was being fair."
"You told me I was overreacting."
"Yes."
"You asked me to stop looking into Rivergate."
"Yes."
"You let him make me doubt myself."
Grant's eyes filled.
"Yes."
I waited for but.
It never came.
He did not say he was under pressure.
He did not say Walter manipulated him.
He did not say he loved me.
He simply took responsibility.
Then he said, "I am not asking you to come back."
That hurt in a strange way.
"Why not?"
"Because an apology that demands a reward is just another transaction."
I looked down.
Maybe he had finally learned something money could not buy.
We talked until midnight.
Not about reconciliation.
About small things.
The apartment we rented after our wedding.
The cheap couch Walter hated.
The first Thanksgiving we burned the turkey and ate cereal.
At one point, Grant smiled.
"We were happy."
"We were."
"Was it real?"
I looked at him.
"Yes."
That mattered.
A marriage could be real and still be damaged.
Love could be real and still be insufficient.
When I left, Grant walked me to my car.
He did not touch me.
"Lena?"
I turned.
"The board offered me my position back if Walter steps down."
"What did you say?"
"No."
I was surprised.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life proving I can become a better version of my father."
May you like
For the first time, I saw a future for Grant that did not have Holloway written across the door.
I just did not know whether I belonged in it.
