“Celeste, step away from the podium. Counsel, call an emergency vote to suspend her pending review and notify the attorney general’s charity division.”
Months later, Dean faced criminal charges, Celeste was gone from the foundation, and Jonah had finished paying restitution.
One afternoon Jonah found me reading scholarship applications and stopped in the doorway.
“You belong here,” he said.
“I know.”
“I should have trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“I’ll never manage you again.”
I looked up.
“You don’t get to promise that once. You prove it every day.”
He nodded.
“Then I will prove it every day.”
Owen appeared in the doorway.
“Dinner, or are we doing emotional accountability all night?”
For the first time in months, I laughed.
I didn’t forgive Jonah overnight.
The first time I married him, fear had cornered me.
The second time I chose him, I did it standing firmly in the center of my own life.
