The confident surgeon who’d walked into that courtroom an hour ago was gone. In his place was just a man who’d forgotten where he came from and lost everything because of it.
Six months later, I was sitting in a college classroom for the first time in eight years. I’d enrolled in the business administration program at the community college, and I was loving every minute of it. My first semester grades came back: straight A’s and a spot on the dean’s list.
I’d paid off all my debts. I’d rented a small but comfortable apartment in a quiet neighborhood. I’d gained back the weight I’d lost during those exhausting years, and for the first time in forever, I actually looked healthy. I even got my hair done at a real salon. Not an expensive one, but nice enough. I felt like myself again. No, that’s not right.
I felt like a better version of myself. Stronger, clearer, more sure of who I was and what I deserved. Maggie met me for coffee to celebrate my dean’s list achievement.
We sat in a little cafe near campus, and she couldn’t stop smiling at me. «Look at you,» she said. «Grace Morrison, college student and future business mogul.»