I did not call Marian myself. I had her number. I had several opportunities. I did not use them.
I think about why I didn’t, and the honest answer is a mix of things. One was the familiar dynamic of not wanting to cause a scene in Daniel’s family, which is a dynamic I had been managing since our first year of marriage when I learned that Daniel has a particular discomfort with being in the wrong in front of his family and that this discomfort tends to redirect itself as pressure on me. Another was that I told myself it did not matter that much. They thought I was unemployed; they were wrong; one day they would find out they were wrong. It was annoying but not important.
That was what I told myself. I do not think it is entirely true. I think I also did not push because I was not sure Daniel would choose my side, and not being sure of that was something I did not want confirmed.
Instead I stayed irritated and mostly quiet and built my client list. I picked up two new clients that spring, both through referrals from existing clients, which is the best kind of growth. I updated my speaker directory profile because Julia had mentioned the Alliance was overhauling their database and asked all registered speakers to review their listings. I described a workshop I had delivered for a distribution company the previous fall, updated my rate information and added two new references.