I apologized directly to her and made a new plan only after I knew I could keep it.

Elena watched how I handled these small failures.

“I need to know you won’t disappear when things get inconvenient,” she told me one evening over tea.

“I can’t promise never to make a mistake.”

“Good.

Don’t.

Promise to tell the truth when you do.”

We began meeting privately for difficult conversations, sometimes with Dr.