Chapter 14
The store recovered.
Then grew.
Not because scandal sells, though Naomi cynically reminded me that it can.
It grew because people trusted clean rooms.
Transparent books.
Staff who smiled without fear.
Customers began asking for pieces from the Grace collection.
Then the Noah stars.
Then the Amelia Reset Ring, which Lila designed as a joke and accidentally made beautiful.
A gold band with a small break filled by a diamond.
Not broken.
Changed.
I wore one on my right hand.
Reporters asked if I would ever marry again.
I said, “I’m busy.”
Grace, now ten, said that was rude.
Noah said it was powerful.
Both were correct.
Thomas Reed became chairman of the advisory board.
He brought old-school discipline and terrible jokes.
My life settled into a rhythm.
School drop-offs.
Board meetings.
Therapy.
Store openings.
Pancakes on Sundays.
Some nights, loneliness came.
Not for Dominic.
For the dream I thought I had.
A husband coming home.
Children running to the door.
A family sitting whole at dinner.
Then I looked at my real table.
Grace telling Noah to stop chewing like a dinosaur.
Noah arguing dinosaurs chewed however they wanted.
May you like
Me laughing.
Whole can look different after truth.
