Chapter 29
Sam was still reeling from the Raw Jeans ads. They were everywhere; on billboards, buses, in newspapers, magazines and of course in the new Amberose & Finch catalogue. She wanted to crawl under a rock. On the one hand, she knew she looked good, and Jon . . . well, Jon was a beautiful, tragic hero. But her hackles were up! Ben had been so dishonest and she hadn't realized how wet and transparent that undershirt had gotten when she'd helped Jon out of the surf. Her boobs were on display throughout the entire country! This was a national campaign and she had absolutely nowhere to hide. If her father saw those pictures, he'd disown her, kill Ben, kill Mr. Pierce and probably tear down every single ad he could find, with his bare hands. If. It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when, and that when would be today because there was no escaping the scope of this advertising campaign. The one her father had warned her about. The warning she'd been too stubborn and greedy to heed. Seemed like she couldn't make any good decisions these days. Samantha sighed deeply and went to hide in the supply closet down the hall to escape the office gossip about her. Her co-workers' taunting voices still echoed in her head: Isn't that her step-brother she's kissing? Ohhh myyy goddd, that shirt is see-through! Wow, she's hot. Wonder if she'd go out with me.
She couldn't take it anymore. She'd already had a very frustrating conversation with Bonnie, trying to explain her feelings for Jon to her best friend. Bonnie had been completely baffled and confused, before telling Sam that maybe she needed to get out more and that by the way, she loved the ads and could Sam please score her some free jeans. Sam had hung up in frustration and was now hiding in the small supply closet, down the hall from the Bower Agency, wedged between large boxes of paper and a broken photocopier. She huddled down on the floor and put her head in her lap, willing the world to go away. The door opened and she sat unnoticed, shrinking further back against the wall as several employees helped themselves to pens or staples. Then Craig sauntered in, loudly looking for a new printer cartridge. He was whistling an annoying tune to himself and opening and closing all sorts of drawers when he saw Samantha's toes peeking out from behind the photocopier. Curious, he poked his head to where she was. "Hi", he said. "Why are you hiding out?"
Wishing she hadn't been found, she huffed in exasperation, "Everybody's gossiping about the Raw Jeans ads. It's embarrassing."
"Embarrassing? You shouldn't be embarrassed. Damn it Samantha, you're hot!" Craig told her heartily.
Craig left and returned a minute later with a copy of the ad. "I like this one; it's sexy" he drawled, while motioning for her to stand and look at the ad with him. Sam reluctantly got up and cringed when she saw Craig's finger lingering over her exposed breasts in the photo. He suggestively ran his finger along the image of her cleavage and licked his lips when he looked at her. "You're a beautiful girl-I told you that already. Now tell me Sam, do you have something going on with this kid? He's Angela's son, isn't he?"
Sam felt exposed and very uncomfortable in this tiny, enclosed space with Craig. The way he was looking at her picture and touching it was very unnerving. She felt the warning hairs on the back of her neck rise, so she moved away from him, towards the door.
"Don't go, Sam. You didn't answer me. You and the kid—what's the story there? 'Cause I didn't like the way you two shut the door in my face after our date. I could hear you laughing in there. That pissed me off, especially after I spent two hundred bucks on your dinner and you didn't even let me have . . . dessert. Don't you think you owe me an honest answer here?" He grabbed her arm too tightly and pulled her towards him.
"Let go of me!" she cried, indignantly.
"Shhhhh. I just want answers Sam. Is this guy your boyfriend? Was he already your boyfriend when you agreed to go out with me? Were you two making fun of me, huh?" Craig's voice was harsh now. He was angry and offended, not the kind of guy who was used to rejection on any scale. The proverbial golden boy, Craig was accustomed to success in every aspect of his life-career, women, sports, and money. Whatever he wanted, he got. And he wanted this girl. Damn her for slamming a door in his face and giggling behind it with her step-brother or boyfriend or whoever the hell that teenager was.
"I don't owe you any explanations", she replied while wrenching her arm out of his tight grip and trying to hide her anxiety. She played it cool, Brooklyn style and stared at him with all the courage she didn't feel.
Craig could see he was making her nervous and defensive so he toned it down. He desired this girl for himself; she was stunning, sexy and she was playing hard to get. Craig loved a challenge but scaring off his prize wasn't the best way to go about it.
"You're right, Samantha. You don't owe me anything. I'm sorry", he lied. "But I'd like to take you out again. Give me another shot, will you?" Craig adopted his most charming smile and sheepish face for Sam. But she didn't fall for it, shook her head and brushed past him out of the closet.
Sam tried to steady her nerves in the Ladies' Room before returning to her desk. She was still shuddering at Craig's blatant sexual interest in her photo and his line of questioning. She felt raw and bare, just like Mr. Pierce had wanted for those photos. Coming out of the bathroom, she tried to walk as unobtrusively as possible to her desk. As she passed Mona's desk, she saw that Angela's office door was open and her father was in there. The two of them had raised voices. Oh no. She stood there, frozen, listening to them, afraid to be seen but Angela had already seen her and beckoned Sam to join them in her office. Sam's legs turned rubbery as she walked hesitantly towards her dad. He was treading a path through the thick office carpet, his entire body a study in repressed rage.
After her yucky encounter with Craig, seeing her dad made her more tense than usual. She hadn't seen Tony in over three weeks and she desperately longed to reconnect with him—to have him forgive her and accept her relationship with Jonathan. But right now, the hurt and angry look on her dad's face told her that at best, they might end up with a stalemate. She quietly entered Angela's office and closed the door behind her.
Tony stared at his daughter, wondering where he'd gone wrong. She looked so innocent, standing there in a plain dark skirt and white blouse, shiny brown hair falling straight past her collar, and her lovely face almost completely devoid of make-up. This was the Samantha he missed and loved but he looked at a copy of the ad he was holding in his hand and could feel the vein in his head begin to throb again.
"It's funny, Samantha", he started, a slight quaver in his voice, "I was sittin' next to a bus in traffic today and you can imagine my surprise when I saw my daughter's picture on the side of that bus. My daughter wearing a wet shirt with her breasts showing!" Tony held out the ad, then angrily crumpled it up and threw it in the waste paper basket. "Do you have any idea how that makes me feel, Samantha?" Tony looked away from her then and pounded his fist against Angela's desk in frustration.
"Tony, please calm down", Angela came up to him and put a hand on his tense shoulder. "I'm trying to fix this, Tony. Please . . ." she quietly pleaded with him while trying to assuage him.
Tony turned around to look at her, his eyes sad, "You can't fix this, Angela. Even if you get these ads pulled, it's too late. Can't you see?" Rage was giving way to anguish and a father's grief over his beloved daughter's waywardness ran deep. Samantha saw her dad holding back tears and felt worse than she'd ever felt when he was merely yelling at her. She walked up to him, wanting nothing more than to feel his arms around her, to hear him laugh, to go home again. She hesitantly put her hand on his arm, needing to feel a connection with him.
"Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't know, Dad. The shirt got wet when I helped Jon after he fell down and we didn't know that pictures were being taken", she explained, her voice cracking slightly.
"But Sam, I warned you not to do the ads at all!" he reminded her. He wanted to protect her from the world and its unscrupulous, dangerous men. Sometimes he wished he could just keep her in a bubble or maybe a convent.
"I know, Dad. You were right. I should have listened to you but I trusted Ben and we really needed the money to pay off . . ."Sam abruptly stopped herself.
"Pay off what, Sam?" Tony faced her now, concerned. He knew Sam had been hiding important things from him but he now wondered if there could possibly be more she hadn't told him.
She hesitated but then figured she had nothing to lose anymore, so she told him and Angela all about Kathleen's blackmail at the pool cabana and how she and Jon had already given her two thousand dollars on the same day that Ben later approached them about the photo shoot.
"Oh my God; she's even more unhinged than I thought!" Angela cried in outrage. "You two gave that woman so much money and then she reneged on her own terms of the blackmail?"
Sam nodded, embarrassed at having been so naïve. "We've been waiting for her to contact us again but we haven't heard from her. Now that the ads are out, I guess there's nothing she can do. And Dad, it was Kathleen who vandalized your car!"
"I knew it! I'm going to the police!" Tony yelled out, livid.
With a mutual enemy to stand against, Sam wondered if she and her Dad could perhaps find common ground and solidarity together. "Dad, we have no proof. Besides, she scares me and it makes me nervous that Jon is working at the country club with her. I don't know if it's a good idea to stir the pot where Kathleen is concerned. If she feels cornered, she'll fight back."
"That's what I said a couple of months ago!" Angela sighed. "But I do think it would be a good idea to contact the police with our suspicions. Even without proof, the complaint will be lodged and they can look for more evidence. That's their job, after all."
"I don't know, Angela", Sam replied, unsure.
"Well I do know one thing for sure", Tony declared. "None of this blackmailing stuff would be happening if you hadn't been sneaking around with Jonathan and lying to us! When are you going to realize that your relationship has no future? You two need to break it off—the sooner, the better!"
"But Dad, we're in love. Don't you get that?" Sam wondered if he'd ever get that through his thick skull.
"Yeah Sam, I've heard you say that lots of times. But, can you at least stop having . . . stop having . . .?" Tony couldn't say it but he needed this small victory at least. Then, maybe he'd be able to look at his daughter without wanting to punch the wall.
"Sex, Dad?"
Tony winced at the word. Sam took a deep breath and silently counted to ten. She'd been planning to wait until Jon started college but after Michael's death, she hadn't had the heart to turn him away during his darkest hour of grief. And now, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. After his nine day house arrest, he'd come to her right away and they'd ended up in bed within five minutes of her opening the door. It would be impossible to stop now that they'd experienced heightened pleasure and delight in each other's bodies. She hadn't felt that way with Matt, and Jon being new to the whole experience, couldn't get enough of her. Every chance they got, she smiled to herself, then remembered where she was and bit down on her lip, hard.
"I can't believe you're telling me what to do about my sex life, Dad!" she replied outraged.
Angela broke in with her own request. "Actually, Samantha . . . I would like you to stop sleeping with my son. He's only sixteen! You're both so young to be in this type of relationship and it's going to be harder for you to break up now that you've been intimate." Angela took Dr. Bellows' advice and expressed how she felt. "Please Samantha, you have to make a clean break with him. Give him a chance to meet other girls, go to college, and grow up! He's too young." Angela begged her. "You have no idea how uncomfortable it makes me, Sam. I just can't deal with it anymore." Angela wiped a tear from her eye and grabbed Tony's hand for support. They needed to present as a united front. He clutched her fingers tightly and looked at her with gratitude.
Samantha looked at the two of them, hands fused together—one formidable opponent.
"But . . . but I love him", she cried, knowing it was completely useless to repeat herself. Angela was pleading with her not to sleep with her son and Samantha didn't know how to respond. "Do I have to break up with him in order to be allowed back into the house then?" she asked.
"You can't live at the house while Jonathan's still living at home. We can't have both of you under the same roof. But you will be welcome to visit and come for family meals, after you've broken up with him", Angela told her. It broke her heart to not allow Samantha to live at the house but she was the older child and Jon needed to live at home while he finished high school. She'd already sent her son away and she didn't want to be separated from him again.
Samantha nodded in understanding. "I see. And if I don't break up with him, then what?" She asked apprehensively, afraid of the answer.
Tony answered her, "If you don't break up with Jon, then you won't be welcome over. It's a consequence, Samantha. He's only sixteen-he's not going to break up with you; he's completely infatuated. This is up to you." Tony then pulled out the last card he could think of, "Don't you miss Rose?"
"Of course I miss Rose! I miss you and Angela too. You're making me choose between my family and my boyfriend. Do you have any idea how horrible you're making me feel right now? I didn't choose to fall in love with him!" Sam began to cry, her voice choked by the lump in her throat. "And to be rejected by the two of you-it hurts so much", she sobbed.
"Sam, I'm sorry. I know it hurts but it's the only way. You two are step-siblings and whatever relationship you have affects the entire family. You may think you're in love now but what happens if the two of you end up hating each other? Best to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. Would you like to talk to Dr. Bellows about this? She can help you sort it out." Angela offered. She felt badly about the girl's tears but she felt a lot worse about the kids having sex.
Samantha shook her head and roughly wiped her tears. "No thank you, Angela. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, or how I'm going to do it. Jonathan is going to be devastated. You're putting it all on me; it's not fair."
"It might not be fair, Honey, but you shouldn't have gotten involved with him in the first place", Angela admonished her.
Samantha wanted to defend herself but she was sick to death of trying to explain that she'd fallen in love and that she and Jon had gotten together before their parents' wedding. She was tired of being exiled and rejected by her father. She looked at her dad and Angela now, knowing that she'd let them down so badly. A deep sense of loss and dejection hit her hard; she just wanted to hide again. "I know I've disappointed the both of you and I'm sorry", she whispered before exiting Angela's office. Sam made a quick pass by her desk, grabbed her purse and went home to be alone. She needed to think about her next move. Dumping Jon would devastate her and break his heart. Then what? Was she supposed to go home for family meals and pretend like they hadn't been lovers? What Dad and Angela were asking was impossible. There was no way for her to come out of this and win. Dad and Angela would probably want to pretend that everything was fine once she and Jon broke up. They'd be one happy family but it would all be phony because she and Jon would be in love and resent the hell out of their parents for forcing them apart. Alternatively, if they didn't break up, she wouldn't even be allowed home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or birthdays. She'd miss watching Rose grow up. There was no good resolution and no matter what she decided, she and Jon were the losers in all of this, she realized miserably.
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Tony and Angela looked at each other, emotionally spent. The confrontation with Samantha combined with the shock of the ads was getting to be too much.
"Angela, thank you for that. For what you told her. She needed to hear it and I'm glad you spoke up", Tony told her gratefully.
"Tony, I just want things to be normal again. Now, will you see Dr. Bellows with me? This was her idea, after all", Angela wasn't going to ask him again, but she hoped he'd agree to go this time. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his face imploringly. "Tony, I love you and I don't want this crisis to tear us apart. Please."
He nodded at her, losing himself in her dark fathomless eyes. "Alright, I'll go. I love you too, Sweetheart. God, I love you so much . . . I'm sorry, Angela. I'm sorry that I've been so angry." He hugged her tightly against him and kissed her hair. Angela breathed a deep sigh of relief and snugged closely against Tony, breathing him in. She'd missed this so much."
"Tony, I still have to meet with my lawyer later. Will you stay for the meeting?" Tony agreed and together he and Angela met with her lawyer about the Raw Jeans ads. Unfortunately, after reviewing the kids' contract and release form in detail, the lawyer informed them that there was no recourse. Amberose & Finch had covered all of its legal bases and the ads would be staying. There was no way to prove that Sam and Jon hadn't posed for those pictures. Besides, they'd already been compensated and cashed their paycheques.
Tony and Angela felt disheartened about the situation when they drove home that evening but they were at least feeling better about their own relationship. As they pulled into the driveway, they were met by Samantha sitting on the front porch swing, waiting for them.
"Sam, what are you doing here?" Tony was surprised to see her a second time in the same day, especially after the way their last meeting had ended.
"I've come to do what you asked of me", she replied tersely. "Jon isn't home yet so I was just waiting. I'm going to break up with him."
"Oh Sweetheart, really?!" Angela was elated. She unlocked the door and ushered Samantha in. "Come in, come in, Sam. You want to stay for dinner? I need to talk to you about the meeting with the lawyer so I'm glad you're here."
Samantha entered the house with trepidation; she hadn't been home in over three weeks and it felt odd to enter as a guest. "Where's Rose?" she asked. She missed the baby very much—Rose was the reason she'd agreed to break up with Jon.
Rose's nanny, Mrs. Thomas, heard the family downstairs and joined them with Rose, fresh from her bath. Sam held out her hands and asked to hold the baby. She cuddled Rose against her, inhaling the fresh, clean scent of baby shampoo. "Hi Rosie . . . I missed you Cutie-Pie." Sam kissed the baby's head while trying not to cry. Breaking up with Jon was going to be brutal but she couldn't stand being banished and despised anymore. And she wanted Rose to know her, as well as watch the little girl grow up.
Jon was tired from his long day. He'd had to field constant questions and comments about the Raw Jeans ads, as well as very unwanted attention from several female guests. Kathleen's bullying was also troubling him. She had threatened to make up lies about him if he didn't pay her; he knew he needed to go to his mother about it now. He couldn't handle that crazy bitch's blackmail anymore. Between Kathleen's extortion and the shock of being exploited to sell jeans, Jon was not in a good frame of mind when he came home that evening. But when he saw Samantha's yellow car in the driveway, he couldn't help but smile. Was she finally allowed to come visit the house?
He practically skipped into the house looking for her. "Samantha?" he called out as he opened the front door. Tony heard Jon's voice and peered his head out of the kitchen door. "We're all in here, having supper. Your mother needs to talk to you about the ads." Tony held the door open for Jon and pulled out a chair for him.
"Sam, you're here. Is it about the ads?" Jon sat down beside her and leaned in to give her a quick hug but she pulled away and didn't greet him. She was looking down at her plate, food untouched. She wanted to wait until they were alone to break up with him so she turned to Angela and asked her about her meeting with the lawyer.
"I don't have good news for you kids," Angela began. "First of all, Mr. Pierce wouldn't even meet with me, and I tried! As for the lawyer, he says that your contract and release form is solid. There's nothing we can do about the ads. You're going to have to weather this storm. I'm sorry." Angela looked at the kids, noting their apprehensive faces. They needed reassurance. "Listen you two, the campaign is successful. You are the face of Amberose & Finch whether you like it or not. I'm sure you're the envy of teenagers everywhere, and, er, and . . . people don't know it's a real moment in time. They'll just think you posed, and, uh, you got a nice paycheque from it . . and …"
"Angela, enough!" Tony stopped Angela's grasping attempt at comforting the kids. "Fact is, they shouldn't have done the photo shoot. Fact is, they shouldn't have been sneaking around. Fact is, it came to bite them in the . . ." this time Angela interrupted Tony.
"Tony! They're going through enough right now. Between my son's grief being exploited, Ben's dishonesty and Kathleen's blackmail, I think your point is already crystal clear!"
"You guys know about Kathleen?" Jon asked. Tony and Angela nodded and explained that Sam had told them about the blackmail.
"Mom, Tony, uh, more stuff happened with Kathleen today. She . . . she wants some of my inheritance money. She threatened to accuse me of sexual harassment if I didn't pay up. I don't know what to do because she's absolutely capable of making up all kinds of lies. Maybe we should go to the police. She's insane!" Jon spoke slowly and uncertainly because he still couldn't believe how terrible Kathleen's threats had been.
Sam couldn't stay quiet any longer. "She what?! I'm going to rearrange her face! I can't believe she'd do that to you, Sweetie!" Completely forgetting her reason for coming over, Samantha leaned over and gave Jon a hug. He looked up at her gratefully, needing her near him after the difficult day he'd just had.
"Sam, I can have the most awful day and still be alright because you're in my corner", he told her with a gentle smile. His hazel eyes beamed at her with deep love and for a moment, he saw only her in his world. "I love you Boo, and if it's up on a billboard for the whole world to see, I can be okay with it because you were comforting me when I needed you the most. Even if I am furious that they exploited my grief to sell their dumb ass jeans."
"Ahem", Tony interrupted loudly. "Sam, don't you have something you need to tell Jonathan?"
Angela looked at her son and was touched by the immeasurable love he had for Samantha; that they had for each other. She knew the break-up would be brutal for both of them but she honestly couldn't see an alternative.
"What do you need to tell me, Sam?" Jon was fearful.
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry but I have to. I have to break it off with you", Sam looked down at her plate again, unable to meet his piercing eyes full of love and hurt.
Jon was shocked. "But why, Sam? Did they get to you?" He pointed to Tony and Angela accusingly.
"If we don't break up, I can't come over anymore. I can't see Rose or even come over for Christmas. I don't want to but we have to", she cried out.
"That's crazy!" Jon turned in fury towards his mother and Tony. "You're banishing her from the family if she doesn't break up with me?! What the hell! No, no, this is wrong. You can't do this to us! I'm going to marry this girl one day- don't you get it?" He yelled before stomping out of the kitchen through the back door. He'd had it.
Samantha followed him to the garage where she found him softly banging his head against his punching bag. She approached him quietly and put her hand on the back of his neck. "Sweetie, it's okay. We have to end it but I'll still love you. I'll always love you", she told him as he moved his head into the crook of her neck. She stroked the back of his head and gently kissed his temple. "I just don't know what else to do, Jon."
Jon moved out of Sam's embrace and stood up straight, "Sam, I think we should run away", he declared. "I have some money and a car and we can go back to California and enroll in school there!"
"California? Jon, your mom already has an agent selling the beach house and all of your dad's stuff is in storage for the estate sale. What exactly would we do there? Besides, you're only sixteen-you can't run away from home without having the police come after you." Sam sighed loudly before adding, "Hey, you're going to go to Harvard Medical School, remember? You only have one semester of high school left and you have to keep up your perfect GPA. Don't let anything get in the way of that dream, okay?" She looked into his eyes to make sure he was listening to her.
"But Sam, I don't want to break up with you. Why can't we just sneak around?"
"Oh, you mean like we did before, when we got caught? They'd know, Jon. They'll always know. I've been sitting in my apartment all afternoon trying to figure out a solution to our relationship but there isn't one! We have to break up. I don't want to be banished from this house or from Rose's life", she sniffled. "But it's not fair. They get to be in love and together and we don't."
"Dammit Samantha! No, please don't end this. I love you so much!" Jon began to kiss her, not wanting to ever let her go. Ever since he'd found her passed out on the bathroom floor from dehydration, he knew that he couldn't live without her. He held her tightly against him as though he could prevent the inevitable with his arms and keep her pressed against him forever.
Samantha responded to his passionate kisses and kissed him back before abruptly pulling away. "I'm sorry, Jon. I have to go. We can't . . . anymore. But I love you; don't ever forget that."
"No, Boo. Wait, don't leave!" The deep anguish in his voice stabbed her heart. She needed to get away from him, so she could think clearly. The agony on his face plagued her; she was breaking his heart. Tears coursed down his face as he tried once again to prevent her from leaving. He grabbed her around the waist and buried his face into her hair. "Sam please don't do this. I can't live without you", he sobbed against her.
"Sweetie, I have to. But we'll always be friends, the best", she had to be strong for both of them. She kissed him one last time before turning away from him. Tears blinded her as she ran to her car, desperately trying to block out Jon's voice calling her name over and over. Her last view of him destroyed her; he was crumpled into a ball begging her to come back, his pleas dissolving into sobs. She got into her car and drove home, wanting to die.
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That night in bed, Angela snuggled up against Tony. She felt relief about the break-up but terrible about her son's emotional state. They'd gone looking for him after hearing Sam's car tearing out of the driveway, screeching as it turned onto the street. They'd found Jon huddled against himself beside the garage, bawling. Tony had attempted to help the boy up but had been met with a tirade of foul words so shocking that Angela had simply staggered back, not knowing how to respond. So they'd left him alone and listened for him to come in.
Now, he was safely in bed but probably not speaking to either of them. Angela put her head on Tony's chest, seeking comfort from him.
"It was the right decision, Angela", he reassured her.
"Then why do I feel so rotten about the whole thing? He's devastated! And I've never heard him speak to you that way before. Tony, our relationship with him is going to suffer over this. What are we going to do? And what about Samantha? She must be heartbroken as well", Angela looked at her husband pleadingly.
"Tony, do you think that perhaps there's a solution that we've overlooked? Some wisdom that Dr. Bellows might be able to impart to us? I don't like seeing the kids in so much pain. I think they're really in love."
"But Angela, we don't want them having sex and they're both so young. They have their whole lives ahead of them and college and …" Tony sighed. "You're right, they are in love. In that jeans ad, the one I saw on the bus, you can see it! The way they look at each other", Tony was at a loss. He loved both kids but his anger over the lies and the sex had overpowered any other thoughts or feelings since he'd caught Sam sneaking out of Jon's room. Then seeing his daughter exposed in those ads had simply fuelled the raging fire.
"So what do we do, Tony? I thought forcing them to break up would be the best solution but after finding Jonathan in that terrible state, I just don't know anymore", Angela admitted to him, feeling defeated.
"I guess all we can do is ask Dr. Bellows what she thinks, Angela. We should meet with her and then bring the kids. If there's a better solution than forcing them apart, then I'd like to know what it is."
"Really, Tony? I'm so thankful to hear you say that. There's got to be another way for them. There simply has to be!" She squeezed him gratefully and kissed his face, feeling immeasurably better, knowing that tomorrow would be a new day with no mistakes in it yet.
