We sat at the kitchen table while rain darkened the glass.

He told me about Pearl’s new teacher, his counseling sessions, and the board changes underway at Ashcroft Logistics.

I told him about an outreach program for deaf parents whose hearing children often had to interpret adult problems they should never carry.

“Your father would have liked that,” he said.

“I think so.”

There was a quiet between us that was no longer awkward.

We were not employer and employee anymore, and for the first time we could ask questions without a job hanging between us.