Chapter 14 - Richard Asked Me The Question No One Else Had
Almost two years after the wedding, Richard and I were sitting outside a small café.
By then we were good friends.
Nothing more complicated.
He asked:
“If you could go back, would you still say the line?”
“What line?”
He smiled.
“You wanted everyone watching. Now they are.”
I laughed.
“That part?”
“Yes.”
I thought about it.
“Yes.”
“Even knowing everything afterward?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because standing up wasn’t the mistake.”
He waited.
“The sweep was.”
That distinction had taken me almost two years to articulate.
Vanessa had tried to define my position.
On my knees.
Below her.
Staff.
Less.
I was allowed to reject that.
Allowed to stand.
Allowed to speak.
Allowed to tell her the room could see what she was doing.
What I was not entitled to do was use my training to put her on the floor simply because she deserved humiliation back.
Richard nodded.
“That sounds right.”
“It’s annoying how reasonable I’ve become.”
“Tragic.”
We both laughed.
Then he said:
“You know the interesting thing?”
“What?”
“Most people remember you standing. Not her falling.”
I looked at him.
He shrugged.
May you like
“That’s what I remember.”
For some reason, that mattered.
