“What kind of change?”
“I’m stepping away from direct operational control.”
I stared into my dark kitchen.
“Why?”
“For several reasons.”
“Is the company in trouble?”
“No.”
“Are there layoffs?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Another pause.
“Because your husband may have been right.”
I said nothing.
“I built my life around being indispensable,” Adrian continued. “At some point, I stopped noticing that I had made myself unavailable for almost everything else.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Adrian…”
“This decision began before Mia wandered into my hallway. She is not responsible for a corporate restructuring.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
“That is a very specific disclaimer.”
“It seemed necessary.”
“What does stepping away mean?”
“I’ll remain chairman. But day-to-day authority will transfer to a managing director and executive committee.”
“Who?”
“The board is interviewing candidates.”
Something about the carefulness of his voice made me uneasy.
“And my department?”
“No changes are planned.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Silence.
I stood.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’ve recommended you for executive creative director.”
My breath stopped.
“That position doesn’t exist.”
“It will.”
I stared at the wall.
“You recommended me?”
“Yes.”
“After my daughter announced that you should become her father?”
“Believe it or not, the board uses a more rigorous evaluation process.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“No.”
He became serious immediately.
“You earned the recommendation long before that morning.”
I closed my eyes.
The promotion was everything I had worked toward.
And suddenly I wanted to refuse it.
Not because I didn’t deserve it.
Because I was afraid other people might think I didn’t.
“Who knows about this?”
“The nominations committee. HR. The board.”
“Do they know—”
“There is no *they know,* Julia.”
His voice remained calm.
“There is nothing between us that requires disclosure.”
The fact that the sentence disappointed me was alarming.
He continued.
“And if that ever changed, you would no longer report through me. The new structure makes that boundary clearer, not weaker.”
I walked to the window.
Below, Manhattan glittered with thousands of windows, each containing a life I knew nothing about.
