I waited.
“I should have spoken up more,” she said. “When it was being decided. I should have said more than I did.”
I thought about this. “What would you have said?”
She looked at the kitchen counter, then at me. “That letting you go was a mistake. That Luke isn’t ready to do what you were doing.”
“Did you think that at the time?”
“I think I did,” she said. “I think I thought it and didn’t say it because your father had decided and I didn’t want –” she stopped. “I don’t know. I made the choice I made.”
I said, “I know.”
She said, “Are you okay? Really.”
I said, “I’m better than okay. I’m starting something that’s mine in a way the last eighteen years weren’t.”
She nodded. Her eyes were doing something. She didn’t let whatever it was out, which is her way.
“Good,” she said. “That’s good.”
We finished cleaning up the kitchen together, which we have done since I was eleven years old. She washed. I dried.
New Work, Imperfect Family Change, and a Complete Ending
I started at Pinnacle the first Monday of December. Owen walked me through the floor, introduced me to the team of five, showed me the operations system they used and the places where he thought it needed development. He had opinions about the gaps and wanted my perspective.
I gave my perspective. It was specific and grounded in what I’d seen in my previous work, without referencing Morgan Freight’s specific clients or confidential processes. Owen asked good questions and took notes on the answers.