But nobody simply handed Mark his old role back.
Months passed.
My Colorado job proved harder than the position I had left, and eventually I realized that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I began leading larger projects, made friends, learned the building well enough to stop getting lost, and one Friday told Mark with mild disappointment, “I think I actually like my job.”
He glanced at me while driving.
“You sound upset.”
“I had a whole speech prepared about what you owe me for dragging me across the country.”
“Keep it. Might come in handy.”
By summer, Patricia was calling Mark simply to talk.
She still made comments occasionally, but he stopped treating every comment as an instruction.
Richard called during Browns games to complain about coaching decisions as though Mark, from Colorado, had somehow gained authority over the sideline.
The following fall, we visited Ohio.
Richard opened the garage while we were there.
