I nodded once, though my eyes burned. “I will be.”

He didn’t press. “You’ve been professional from the moment you clocked in. I wanted that on record.”

I swallowed. “Thank you.”

After he left, I sat by the window for a while.

I looked at the empty bed and thought about how much of my life I had spent shrinking to make others comfortable. In school. At work. In friendships. Even in my marriage.

“No more,” I whispered. “No one gets to build themselves up by making me feel small. Not anymore.”

Then I straightened my scrubs and went to my next patient.

Margaret was gone—hopefully for good—but if I ever saw her again, I knew one thing for certain.

She would not bring me down again. She could try, but I wouldn’t let her win.