For a moment, we all stood quietly.
Bryan let out a long breath.
“Was that okay?” he asked Alaric.
“Yes,” Alaric replied. “You were respectful, and you told the truth.”
Sasha grinned.
“You were really brave.”
Bryan laughed softly.
“So were you.”
Before we left, Alaric thanked Sasha for speaking up and told me he’d follow through on the review he’d promised Bryan.
I appreciated that he didn’t try to make himself the hero.
He’d made mistakes, and he acknowledged them.
As Sasha and I finally collected our groceries, I kept thinking about Bryan’s question.
Does it still count?
Those words told me how frightened he’d become of disappointing people.
I also thought about how easily Nora had assumed I would side with her.
She’d seen an adult customer and believed we were automatically allies.
She’d never considered that Bryan’s account might deserve the same respect as hers.
A few weeks later, Sasha and I returned to the supermarket.
