irst-year student. She was brilliant, driven, and had a fire in her that pulled me in.

, I supported her. I worked extra shifts so she could afford the business school she wanted. We mo

ate at night. "One day, I'll be CEO, and you'll never have

I loved being a doctor. But I

ain resort. She called me, panicked. There had been a fire at the hotel. S

single father at the conference with his son, Billy. He had guided her through a

sence. At first, it was just dinners, a way for Emily to say thank y

ay, "Oh, but Mark says there's a great new place that's better for Billy." If

. It was my only refuge. My mentor, Dr. Evelyn Reed

noon in her office. She had known me since

rds to explain that my fiancée was sl

across her desk. "It's a two-year research fellowship at Johns Hopkins. A ver

ortunity. A chance to do meaningful work,

my voice thick with gratitude

ime in months. I would tell Emily. Maybe this was the fresh sta

tchen, packing a bask

the brochure. "Dr. Reed offered me a fellows

k at the brochure.

illy's favorite things for the picnic." She hung up and looked a

a fellowship," I said, my v

ddle of a crucial merger. I can't just pick up and move to Baltimore. And besides

ing me standing alone in the kitchen, the brochure f