He did not know I could hear him through the conference room door.

“Whitcomb won’t admit it,” he told another executive, “but he married into a liability.”

That evening, Meredith asked whether I would attend a small anniversary dinner at a restaurant where we had once celebrated a successful contract renewal.

I told her I had an investment call.

The call could have waited.

She said she understood, then ate alone.

The next morning, a wrapped package sat outside my study.

Inside was a fountain pen, repaired and polished, which I had thought lost years earlier.

A note said simply: I remembered how much this meant to you.

I picked it up and held it for a long time.

I did not go to her room to say thank you.

I put it in a drawer because I was afraid that if I saw her, I would ask for more than our agreement allowed.

PART 4

The Photograph in the Desk