Chapter 8 - What Happened To Patty
Patty was charged.
The legal case focused on the deliberate interference with my food and her attempt to destroy evidence afterward.
Prosecutors did not need to pretend she intended to kill me.
They argued she knowingly caused an unauthorized exposure to a substance she understood I claimed could seriously harm me.
Her defense emphasized that she believed I had exaggerated the allergy.
That helped explain her state of mind.
It did not help as much as she hoped.
Because if you believe someone is exaggerating a medical risk, the lawful response is still not to secretly test the theory on their body.
The case eventually resolved through a plea.
A period of custody.
Probation.
Mandatory counseling.
Restitution tied to medical costs and other proven losses.
No fifty-year sentence.
No dramatic courthouse collapse.
Her greatest consequence was relational.
Noah stopped seeing her for nearly six months.
Not because I demanded it.
He needed time.
When he eventually resumed contact, it was alone.
Public places.
No discussion of my medical information.
No pressure on me.
Patty hated that I was not part of the reconciliation process.
She wanted to apologize directly.
I declined.
Months later, I agreed to read a letter.
Her first draft, according to Noah, still said:
“I never believed the reaction would be that severe.”
He told her not to send it.
Good.
The letter I eventually read said:
I decided that because I doubted your experience, I had the right to create a test you never agreed to take.
That was better.
Then:
When you reacted, I tried to destroy the plate because protecting my belief about myself mattered more to me in that moment than protecting the truth.
Specific.
She did not ask forgiveness.
I appreciated that.
I did not offer it.
Not then.
May you like
Maybe not ever in the way she wanted.
Remorse can be real without restoring access.
