Hejabbedafingerattheproposal."Nexttimeyouwanttochangeanything， askmefirst，" hesaid， turningonhisheelsandleavingmestewinginanger.
Howdarehetreatmelikethat， ， andcorrectedgrammar—somethingIthoughtIwaspaidtodo.
It'snotthatIhadn'， whohadservedinmyplacebeforeme， calledhimnamesIcouldn'-workertookmeasidethefirstday."He'spersonallyresponsiblefortwodifferentsecretariesleavingthefirm，" shewhispered.
Astheweekswentby， —， buttobehonest， Iwantedtoputhiminhisplace， notlovehim.
Oneday， ， preparedtolosemyjobifneeded， .
"What？" hesaidabruptly.
， hedeservedit.
Isatacrossfromhim."Jack， thewayyou'vebeentreatingmeiswrong.I'， it'swrong， andit'swrongformetoallowittocontinue，" Isaid.
， Iprayed.
"，" Isaid."Iwilltreatyouasyoudeservetobetreated， ，" Isaid."Everybodydoes." Islippedoutofthechairandclosedthedoorbehindme.
， specs， andlettersappearedonmydeskwhileIwasatlunch， '."Hopeyourdayisgoinggreat，" itread.
Overthenextfewweeks， ， -workerscorneredmeinthebreakroom.
"GuessyougottoJack，" theysaid."Youmusthavetoldhimoffgood." Ishookmyhead."JackandIarebecomingfriends，" ， ， that'swhatfriendsdo.
Oneyearafterour "talk"， IdiscoveredIhadbreastcancer.Iwas32， themotherofthreebeautifulyoungchildren， ， ， .
Thelastdayofmyhospitalstay， ， withoutaword， .
"Tulips，" hesaid.
Ismiled， notunderstanding.
Heclearedhisthroat."Ifyouplantthemwhenyougethome， they'llcomeupnextspring." Heshuffledhisfeet."IjustwantedyoutoknowthatIthinkyou'llbetheretoseethemwhentheycomeup."
TearscloudedmyeyesandIreachedoutmyhand.
"Thankyou，" Iwhispered.
Jackgraspedmyhandandgrufflyreplied， "You''tseeitnow， butnextspringyou'llseethecolorsIpickedoutforyou." Heturnedandleftwithoutaword.
， thisSeptemberthedoctorwilldeclaremecured.I'veseenmychildrengraduatefromhighschoolandentercollege.
InamomentwhenIprayedforjusttherightword， amanwithveryfewwordssaidalltherightthings.
Afterall， that'swhatfriendsdo.
