I would like to present the Citizen Valor Award to Mr. Chris Williams.”, he ended. I simply sat there somewhat stunned by the magnitude of the award... Lexie finally shoved me out of my chair into the aisle. Everyone was on their feet applauding as I slowly walked up the center aisle. I finally got to the steps and got up on the stage. I walked in the direction of the podium and encountered Officer Dugas first. She simply wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight. “Thank you, Chris, I will. I heard Ramirez visited them briefly last summer ... making amends?”“I don’t think of it that way. Rafael is Valeria’s grandfather, but he’s been a father to her most of her life, and he can feel the pain of loss that Mom and Dad feel because it could easily have been Valeria. What happened that night shook him. The fact it was not some random act but perpetrated by Rafael’s enemies makes it that much more frightening and more cause for guilt.”“Absolution then?”He sat quietly, thinking.. " I can blame you, Ellen, and I do blame you. You're using your unhappiness to deliberately try to drive a wedge between Shirley and me. I'm not going to allow it to continue. The next time Shirley and I have an argument about you, I'll make sure you are completely out of my life. I like you, and you're a big asset to the company, but I'm not willing to keep you around if you come between Shirley and me." See, that's how you do things. I told Shirley that you'd start threatening me. You don't. I think to myself; this is not how things work; this cannot be real. At forty plus, I have given up on fantasies and accepted that some things would be just that, fantasies, nothing more. You go about your day, do what you have always done — day after day.But then this happened. Totally out of nowhere, I had not been looking for it, never had. What a cliché. Midlife crisis to the letter. It could be a scene out of any soap opera on tv. I'm forty, and an older man in her eyes. I've been married.