Monday arrived cold and cloudy.
Jeremy left the house shortly after seven.
He wore his usual work clothes.
A clean shirt.
Dark trousers.
His old leather boots.
He carried his lunch in a small insulated bag.
I noticed that and almost laughed.
After everything that had happened, he was still preparing for an ordinary workday.
Before leaving, he hugged me.
"Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck to tell the truth."
He smiled.
Then he drove away.
I spent the morning doing housework.
But I kept checking my phone.
At ten-fifteen, it rang.
Jeremy.
"Mom, I'm finished."
"How did it go?"
He took a breath.
"They had Frank there. Doug was there too."
I sat down.
"What did they say?"
"They asked me about the party."
"And?"
"I told them exactly what happened."
I waited.
Jeremy explained that Frank had brought out his employment file.
Nine years of service.
His attendance record.
His performance reviews.
The training he had completed.
The equipment he was qualified to operate.
There were no formal warnings.
No outstanding disciplinary actions.
No documented performance problems.
Doug had looked through the records.
Apparently, he had expected something different.
Jeremy said Frank had asked whether anyone had ever complained about his work.
Doug hadn't identified a specific complaint.
Then Frank asked why Jeremy had been dismissed.
Jeremy repeated the words Doug had used at the Christmas party.
He explained that the decision had been made in front of the employees and their guests.
Frank listened.
Doug remained quiet.
Finally, Doug said that he had been drinking and had made an inappropriate remark.
Jeremy told him that being embarrassed in front of eighty people wasn't something he could simply forget.
I was proud of my son for saying that.
Then Jeremy told me what happened next.
Doug said the company would not consider the dismissal final until the review was completed.
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"They're reviewing whether I should be reinstated."
"Did they apologize?"
There was a pause.
"Not exactly."
I closed my eyes.
I had expected that answer.
Jeremy continued.
"Frank said he was sorry about how it happened."
"That's something."
"Yeah."
"Did Doug say anything about the agreement?"
"Yes. He asked whether you had an attorney."
I looked toward the kitchen table.
"Thomas Bennett is reviewing it."
Jeremy said he had already told them that.
Then he mentioned something else.
Frank had explained that the company was taking the old document seriously.
They were contacting their legal advisers.
They wanted to examine the original records from 1998.
I understood.
That was sensible.
But I was not going to let the company turn the document into an excuse to avoid discussing Jeremy's employment.
"What about your job?" I asked.
"They haven't made a final decision."
"All right."
Jeremy sighed.
"Mom, I just want this over."
"I know."
We ended the call.
I remained seated for a while.
I thought about the people in that meeting.
Frank.
Doug.
My son.
And the old document that had somehow brought us all to this point.
At noon, Thomas called again.
He had arranged to review the original agreement the following morning.
He wanted me to bring Ray's letters as well.
I agreed.
That afternoon, I received an email from his office confirming the appointment.
I printed it and placed it beside the brown envelope.
I was beginning to understand that the next steps would take time.
There would be questions.
There would be records to examine.
There might even be disagreements about what the old agreement meant.
But I wasn't afraid of that.
I had lived long enough to know that the truth didn't become less important simply because it was inconvenient.
That evening, Jeremy came over for dinner.
I made chicken soup.
He ate quietly.
Then he looked up.
"Mom, I think I might need to find another job."
I put down my spoon.
"Why?"
"Even if they take me back, I don't know whether I can work for Doug anymore."
I understood.
A person could forgive an insult and still decide that he no longer belonged in the place where it happened.
"You don't have to decide tonight."
He nodded.
"I know."
We finished dinner.
Before he left, he helped me put the dishes away.
It was something he had done since childhood.
He washed.
I dried.
Neither of us said much.
But when he reached for the final plate, he looked at me.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for standing up for me."
I smiled.
"That's what mothers do."
He shook his head.
"Not everybody would."
I didn't know what to say.
So I simply hugged him.
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: Ray’s Old Letters Revealed Why He Had Written That Agreement So Carefully, and One Sentence Made Me Understand What Doug Had Inherited
My Son Asked Me to Attend His Christmas Party Because He Couldn’t Bear Another Holiday Sitting Alone
Part 11 of 20
