important than any public humiliation could have been.
Chapter Sixteen: Madison’s Unexpected Question
After the meeting, Madison approached me in the hallway.
She looked different from the confident young woman who had sat beside Harold on Friday afternoon.
Her cream blazer was gone, replaced by a simple dark cardigan. She held a notebook against her chest.
“Eleanor?”
I turned.
“Yes?”
“Could I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
She looked down at her notebook.
“I wanted to apologize.”
I waited.
“I was too confident. I thought because I could build the
