Chapter 23 - Graham’s employees
I visited Bennett Custom once before divorce final.
Why?
My marital property interest was being resolved, and the accountant needed inventory confirmation.
I could have sent someone.
I went.
Employees stared.
They knew enough.
Not everything.
Eli met me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I told Graham to get his mom out after garage incident.”
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
“That she grabbed you. Not that you fractured a rib.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
He looked ashamed.
“I thought it was marriage stuff.”
There.
Another system.
Men protecting men from uncomfortable conversations.
Then:
“Would you do it differently?”
“Yes.”
Maybe.
I walked through the shop.
Twenty-six employees.
Real jobs.
Graham’s fear had not been imaginary.
That mattered.
He had simply decided other people’s livelihoods justified managing my reality.
Fear explains.
It does not absolve.
Then I saw Graham through office glass.
He did not come out.
May you like
Good.
We were learning boundaries late.
