“I want to be extremely clear about that, because I know how it looks and I don’t want you accepting a gift.

I’ve spent this week reading four months of records kept by you and by a nine-year-old, and what those records show is that the only functioning management structure in this house was you, operating with no authority, no support, and active hostility from above.

I’m not giving you a promotion.

I’m giving you the title that matches the work you have already been doing, and I’m paying for it at market, which is what I should have been doing since the second year.”

She was quiet for a while.