“Will you come with me tomorrow?”

I sat on the edge of the couch after the call with HR, phone still in my hand. Veronica hadn’t moved. She was still curled up beside me in my hoodie, bare legs tucked under her, watching me quietly.

I looked over at her.

“Will you come with me tomorrow?” I asked. “As my support person.”

She blinked, clearly surprised.

“Tom…” she started carefully. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”

I let out a short breath and rubbed the back of my neck.

“I know it’s not smart. I know it might look bad. But I don’t see a version of this where I don’t lose the job anyway.” I met her eyes. “I’d rather have the one person who actually calms me down in the room when it happens. That’s you.”

Veronica was quiet for a long moment. She studied my face like she was trying to decide how much of this was panic and how much was genuine.

Eventually she nodded once.

“Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll come.”