Chapter 2 · After Eleven Years, I Let Go

That evening, I moved into my apartment downtown.

I had bought the place before getting married. It was rented out for a few years, but I decided not to renew the lease when it expired last year.

After getting out of the hospital two months ago, I had it fix up. At the time, I hadn't even brought up divorce yet. I guess my body was already one step ahead of my mind.

After I unpacked my bags, my phone started buzzing off the hook. A few business partners reached out privately to ask if I'd still be involved with HarperTech going forward.

I gave them all the same reply: [I won't be involved in day-to-day operations. For regular business matters, please contact the company directly.]

I didn't urge anyone to jump ship, nor did I put James on the spot. I simply stepped down from that role.

A little after ten, David sent over a screenshot.

Rivergate was requesting to move up the renewal meeting initially scheduled for Friday while asking HarperTech to supply risk assessment documents that had been waived for the past two years.

He asked: [We've never had to go through this whole process before, and I'm not sure about a few data formats here. Could you take a look for me?]

I stared at the message for a few seconds.

In the past, if he sent something like this over, I would have given him my feedback within half an hour tops.

I tapped on the chat box and only sent back: [Reach out to the Rivergate project lead. They'll tell you what they need.]

David quickly replied: [Will do.]

I put my phone on silent and went to take a shower.

When I stepped out, a message James had sent 20 minutes earlier was sitting on my screen. [Are you really going to let it all go?]

I dried my hair and didn't bother to reply.

By seven the next morning, the HarperTech business group had over 40 unread messages.

It was the first day back to standard procedures, and it looked like they had their hands a lot fuller than they bargained for.

*****

On Friday afternoon, the Rivergate renewal meeting dragged on for three hours. I didn't attend. But somehow, word still made its way back to me.

Charles Grant, who headed corporate partnerships over at Rivergate, sent me a picture of his coffee. [Meetings run way longer now that you're not in the room.] He tacked on a smiley face at the end.

I texted back: [They'll get the hang of it after a few tries.]

[You're really washing your hands of this?]

[Yeah.]

Charles didn't pry any further.

*****

At seven that evening, I ran into David in the underground parking lot after wrapping up a brand review with an ad agency.

He was leaning against a car door smoking but quickly put out his cigarette the second he spotted me. "Susan."

"What a coincidence," I replied.

"I actually came looking for you."

I stopped walking.

David was clutching a stack of files, his collar unbuttoned, with deep dark circles under his eyes. He blurted it out in one breath, "Rivergate jacked up the renewal price by 12% and swapped our fixed front-page spot for a bidding model.

"For next month's new product launch, they're only offering standard placements.

"Mr. Grant told me that's the standard for all their new clients this year."

I nodded. "Then that's the standard."

David grew frantic. "None of these terms were on the table last year."

"Last year was last year."

"Susan, Mr. Grant has always been on great terms with you."

I looked at him.

David trailed off mid-sentence, catching himself.

He had accompanied me to plenty of meetings over the years. He knew how the world worked. My good relationship with Charles didn't happen out of thin air.

The year he was promoted to head of business operations, Rivergate ran into a last-minute issue with a batch of co-branded products.

HarperTech had already finished all the promotional push. By contract, we could have easily washed our hands of it and dumped the mess entirely on them.

I didn't do that. I pulled an all-nighter coordinating with R&D and our suppliers to keep the losses to a bare minimum, saving Charles' first major project after taking office.

From then on, whenever HarperTech needed a favor, he was happy to cut us some slack. Our cooperation had always been smooth sailing.

Nobody expected off-the-books favors to be written in stone forever.

"David, you're the Chief Commercial Officer now. If the renewal cost goes up, recalculate your budget. If resources get cut, adjust your media plan. Running to me isn't going to fix your problems," I said.

He glanced down at the documents in his hands. "I know."

He paused, letting out a bitter smile. "I never realized there was much back-and-forth involved in all of this."

"You'll get used to it."

As I turned to leave, he called out to me again. "Mr. Harper's been flying off the handle a lot lately."

"Then try not to get on his bad side."

My response squeezed a chuckle out of David. "Susan, aren't you upset at all?"

I opened my car door. "I've been pretty busy lately."

He didn't stop me this time.

Chapter 2

That evening, I moved into my apartment downtown.

I had bought the place before getting married. It was rented out for a few years, but I decided not to renew the lease when it expired last year.

After getting out of the hospital two months ago, I had it fix up. At the time, I hadn't even brought up divorce yet. I guess my body was already one step ahead of my mind.

After I unpacked my bags, my phone started buzzing off the hook. A few business partners reached out privately to ask if I'd still be involved with HarperTech going forward.

I gave them all the same reply: [I won't be involved in day-to-day operations. For regular business matters, please contact the company directly.]

I didn't urge anyone to jump ship, nor did I put James on the spot. I simply stepped down from that role.

A little after ten, David sent over a screenshot.

Rivergate was requesting to move up the renewal meeting initially scheduled for Friday while asking HarperTech to supply risk assessment documents that had been waived for the past two years.

He asked: [We've never had to go through this whole process before, and I'm not sure about a few data formats here. Could you take a look for me?]

I stared at the message for a few seconds.

In the past, if he sent something like this over, I would have given him my feedback within half an hour tops.

I tapped on the chat box and only sent back: [Reach out to the Rivergate project lead. They'll tell you what they need.]

David quickly replied: [Will do.]

I put my phone on silent and went to take a shower.

When I stepped out, a message James had sent 20 minutes earlier was sitting on my screen. [Are you really going to let it all go?]

I dried my hair and didn't bother to reply.

By seven the next morning, the HarperTech business group had over 40 unread messages.

It was the first day back to standard procedures, and it looked like they had their hands a lot fuller than they bargained for.

*****

On Friday afternoon, the Rivergate renewal meeting dragged on for three hours. I didn't attend. But somehow, word still made its way back to me.

Charles Grant, who headed corporate partnerships over at Rivergate, sent me a picture of his coffee. [Meetings run way longer now that you're not in the room.] He tacked on a smiley face at the end.

I texted back: [They'll get the hang of it after a few tries.]

[You're really washing your hands of this?]

[Yeah.]

Charles didn't pry any further.

*****

At seven that evening, I ran into David in the underground parking lot after wrapping up a brand review with an ad agency.

He was leaning against a car door smoking but quickly put out his cigarette the second he spotted me. "Susan."

"What a coincidence," I replied.

"I actually came looking for you."

I stopped walking.

"For next month's new product launch, they're only offering standard placements.

"Mr. Grant told me that's the standard for all their new clients this year."

I nodded. "Then that's the standard."

David grew frantic. "None of these terms were on the table last year."

"Last year was last year."

"Susan, Mr. Grant has always been on great terms with you."

I looked at him.

David trailed off mid-sentence, catching himself.

He had accompanied me to plenty of meetings over the years. He knew how the world worked. My good relationship with Charles didn't happen out of thin air.

The year he was promoted to head of business operations, Rivergate ran into a last-minute issue with a batch of co-branded products.

HarperTech had already finished all the promotional push. By contract, we could have easily washed our hands of it and dumped the mess entirely on them.

I didn't do that. I pulled an all-nighter coordinating with R&D and our suppliers to keep the losses to a bare minimum, saving Charles' first major project after taking office.

From then on, whenever HarperTech needed a favor, he was happy to cut us some slack. Our cooperation had always been smooth sailing.

Nobody expected off-the-books favors to be written in stone forever.

He glanced down at the documents in his hands. "I know."

He paused, letting out a bitter smile. "I never realized there was much back-and-forth involved in all of this."

"You'll get used to it."

As I turned to leave, he called out to me again. "Mr. Harper's been flying off the handle a lot lately."

"Then try not to get on his bad side."

My response squeezed a chuckle out of David. "Susan, aren't you upset at all?"

I opened my car door. "I've been pretty busy lately."

He didn't stop me this time.