“That’s one way to look at it.” Jill’s shoulders sagged as she acknowledged that consequence.

Gwen raised her eyebrows, staring pointedly back at her.

“You know what? This was a stupid idea. I’m sorry to bother you.” Jill wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and headed for the door.

“Wait.”

Jill turned and held her breath. Gwen seemed to mull over what she wanted to say. “I’ll make sure she’s there.” Gwen looked at her watch and said, “Be there at eleven thirty.”

Jill let out a slow breath, the tightness in her chest that she’d felt for the past month easing slightly. “Oh, thank you.” She had the strange urge to hug Gwen but figured that’d be a little too much, especially when Gwen looked menacing with her arms crossed and a wary smile on her face that was more like a scowl.

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t.” She turned to leave but stopped. “Can I ask you something?”

“Another favor?” Gwen asked, sounding annoyed.

“No. Um, why did you agree to help me?”

“You made her happy. I was always afraid that losing her dad would break her, but it didn’t. And that’s largely because of you.”

“You think so?”

“I do. You eased her pain. Brought hope and light back into her life. And then you made a boneheaded move that broke her. Bring that light back to her.”

“I’ll try. I promise. Thanks, Gwen.”

Gwen nodded and returned to her desk, and Jill took the hint to leave. She drove to her office with a sense of relief. Her plan was falling into place. Now she just needed to get through a morning of work and then she’d finally get her chance to apologize to Reagan.

But when she walked down the hallway to her office, it was hard to ignore how no one made eye contact and shifted their direction to avoid passing by her. Maybe because you’ve been an asshole to each of them. As she reached her outer office door, she realized the biggest coworker she had hurt would be right behind it.

She’d made so many mistakes over the past few weeks. She’d taken her anger out on every person she came into contact with during the day and that was so unfair. If she was going to be a better person for Reagan, she needed to do the same thing with the other people in her life who she cared about. She took a deep breath and walked through the door.

“Morning, Ms. Jacobs,” Ash said curtly, glancing at her briefly before continuing to type up something on their computer. “It would have been nice to know you were going to be late. I’ve already had to field three calls and make up an excuse for your absence.”