“Oh, my God. I actually picked it up and put it in my bag.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I thought you were giving it to me.”
“Why would I give you a hundred dollars?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
“I don’t know.”
I held out my hand.
She returned the bill immediately.
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Good,” I said, then softened my voice. “Not because I want you to suffer. Because sometimes embarrassment reminds us to think before we act.”
She looked at me.
“I really have been behaving terribly today, haven’t I?”
“Yes, sweetheart. You have.”
She laughed through her tears.
I slipped the bill back into my wallet.
“Your apology is accepted. But I hope you’ll remember this the next time you find yourself treating someone as though their feelings don’t matter.”
“I will.”
And for the first time since I had met her, I believed she might mean it.
