It started in month two of the placement.

“I want to be accurate,” Emma said. “I wasn’t forced. I want to say that because it’s true and because I’ve had two years of therapy to be able to say it without a lot of extra words on either end.

I said yes. I liked it. I thought he was extraordinary.”

“And the job?”

“Converted in month five.” She looked at the water. “And I did not draw a line between those two things for about eighteen months, and when I finally did, I had a condo in Miami in my name and no employment history and no idea what I was.”

Then she told me about Boston.