Still, Reid said it was more—more I’d done, more I’d had to face for him. All the times I’d come with him to meetings, depositions, days in court, my head held high when reporters would shout questions at the both of us. All the Let’s walk around Brooklyn games I’d distracted him with as he’d struggled with worry over Avery, who had—not long after her father’s arrest—reconciled herself to the depth of his crimes. All the evenings I sat quietly with him after some other random “source” connected to Coster claimed anew that Reid was nothing more than a hack, a guy with an ax to grind. All the days I never gave up, even when it seemed as if the attention was never going to go away.

“We’re not keeping a balance sheet here,” I’d said to him once, trying to keep my temper in check, trying to reason with him in a way he’d understand.

It hadn’t always worked, of course. There’d been a few slammed doors, a few brooding, silent meals. A few days when both of our nerves were strung tight, worn-out, where we couldn’t communicate with each other at all.

But we’d practiced. We’d stayed.

In the end, it’d been a compromise. Not a gift, but a loan, one I’ve almost already paid back. Reid’s feathers had been ruffled, and my pride had been stung, but we’d made it work.

And sometimes—like right now, when he comes over to lean down and give me a soft kiss of greeting—I think it’s my best work.

“How was today?” I ask him, smoothing his hair back from his brow. He’s never so polished coming from work anymore—Wall Street Reid is long since gone. In the morning, he still leaves the house early, ready for his daily swim, his work clothes ironed and placed carefully in a hanging bag. But by the time he’s finished for the day, they’re always more than a little rumpled.

“Difficult,” he says with a smile. “They test me.”

“They” are Reid’s students, and we both know that the truth is, he enjoys being tested.

In the months immediately after Coster’s arrest, it wasn’t really possible for Reid to work. He was too tied up all the time, too hounded by press inquiries, interview requests—none of which he ever granted. But it was possible to quietly reach out to many of his graduate professors, to make connections with area colleges and universities who might be looking for lecturers. To Reid’s surprise—but to no one else’s, really—many of those colleges and universities were extremely interested in having a crack at a famous analyst who could boost the profile of their departments with special lectures about Wall Street whistleblowing.