Chapter 26 - Marta Learns to Live Without Him
Marta moved into a modest rental outside Denver.
She took a part-time job at a community center.
It was the first paid job she had held in twenty-eight years.
Thomas had always told her she was too old to start over.
Before that, her husband told her she did not need work.
Dependence traveled through generations in different forms.
Marta attended therapy.
She joined a support group for parents of adult children who committed financial crimes.
At first, she spoke only about Thomas’s deception.
Eventually, she spoke about her participation.
She wrote letters to the investors she recruited.
Some returned them unopened.
Some accepted the apology.
One sued her.
She did not complain.
We met occasionally in public.
Coffee shops.
Parks.
Never my apartment.
She asked about my work.
She stopped calling it “a little computer job.”
The first time she referred to the apartment, she said, “your home.”
Two words.
May you like
Late.
But accurate.
