Chapter 8 - GRACE QUITS
Grace resigned three weeks later.
I stared at the letter.
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t get to reject resignations.”
Fair.
“The children love you.”
“I love them.”
“Then stay.”
“That is not the same thing.”
I hated how often women in my life were teaching me this distinction.
Grace continued:
“For six nights, I slept outside their door because I didn’t trust the adults running this house.”
I went still.
“That includes me.”
“Yes.”
No softness.
Good.
“You came home.”
“Eventually.”
“You listened.”
“Eventually.”
“Evan, I am not punishing you.”
She took a breath.
“I just don’t want my relationship with Sophie and Caleb to depend on my paycheck.”
That sounded familiar.
Power again.
I offered severance.
She accepted only what her contract provided.
I offered tuition because I learned she had paused graduate school in child psychology.
She refused.
“Don’t turn gratitude into debt.”
Another lesson.
She agreed to visit the children.
Only if they wanted.
Sophie wanted.
Caleb mostly wanted Grace because she knew how to repair stuffed rabbits.
May you like
Good enough.
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