Less than an hour after I post my latest blog, I receive a text message from Dustin.

I’m surprised at first – I really thought I’d never hear from him again. Then, I’m mortified:

“Hey there. Hate to be a bother, but a few people have been interpreting your blog as to suggest I’m the sexual assaulter. My sister now thinks you’ve filed a police report against me???”

My first reaction is actually a mental image of throwing myself off my apartment balcony – along with all my journalistic integrity.

How could that blog have possibly been misconstrued (it has since been amended)? There’s no way I could have been so ambiguous in my writing as to allow such an awful misinterpretation.

I text Dustin back, profusely apologizing. I can’t believe he’s being so understanding. I thought he hated me before – how does he not hate me now?

“I am really, really sorry. I would never, ever slander you and I hate that people would think I did. I feel awful – I’m really sorry.”

He replies and then adds, “Before all this I had wanted to thank you for going easy on me in your previous blogs. And apologize for not texting back, you at least deserved that.”

I stare at the text for a moment and wonder what the hell just happened. In this moment, I am a terrible journalist, but I feel like a good person.