The Cruise, The Choice

Donald was not receptive to this idea. Troubles? The very idea that an impending divorce could be temporarily mitigated by a glass of wine! It was Linda to whom he had communicated the changes. She knew Monica was on vacation, and she also knew that the meeting could have been delayed. Maybe Linda should have given Monica a little time on her vacation, and this entire situation could have been avoided. He liked the work that was performed, but now he wondered at the cost.

Forcibly, but gently, Donald said, "No."

There was a word that was rarely said inside that building. A word that was needed, but if used by an employee usually meant that their career came to a screeching halt, and occasionally so did their employment. A client saying that word was a crisis.

This time, all eyes turned to Donald, and the room was hushed again. "I can appreciate your wanting to continue our discussion, Linda, but the key person responsible for this deal is not at her best at the moment. Why don't we take a week and reconvene?" He paused and thought a moment, then said, "Our commitment to Monica is solid. We aren't going anywhere, and I assume you aren't either."

Donald was speaking in soft tones, but it was clear that this wasn't a negotiation.

Not wanting to upset the client, Linda replied, "We will be here and available to you. I'll reach out to your admin to schedule a date."

Donald replied, "That's okay, Linda. I'll have her give Monica a call. We'll be ready when she is."

All of Monica's colleagues in the room were stunned at that statement. That was as vicious a putdown of Linda that they had ever witnessed. The power duo of Linda and Monica had just been put on opposite sides by the client. They wondered if Linda had the skill to navigate past this.

"Oh. Okay. I'll look forward to our lunch then," said Linda.

Donald smiled and said, "As will I. Good day."

Everyone escorted Donald, Stephanie and the client team to the elevator. Stephanie told Monica to let her know if she needed anything, and Monica thanked her for her concern.

Two seconds after they could see the elevator begin its descent, Linda said, "Monica, can you join me in my office for a moment?"

That wasn't a request either.

Monica was curious as to what this conversation would entail.

Linda stood behind her desk and asked Monica to close the door. "Have a seat."

Monica sat.

Still standing, in the power position, Linda asked, "Would you mind telling me what the fuck just happened!? How does your lazy-ass, whining husband blow up a lunch with one of our newest and very profitable clients?"

Monica was shocked at the outburst. She wasn't shocked by what was said, because Linda's opinions of spouses were widely known, but she was shocked that Linda dared to vocalize it, given what had just happened to Monica. She wanted to tell Linda to "fuck off," but that would likely mean the end of her position with her company and a future position on the unemployment line. Then she thought of John's note. He called it and was spot on regarding her colleagues.

Monica practically growled, "What the fuck did you just say about my husband?" Monica hoped that despite the papers that were sitting in her lap that she still had one.

Linda cocked an eyebrow. Was Monica going to be defiant? Linda said, "He doesn't understand the pressures of this business. If he wants to leave you, you are better off without him."

More coolly, Monica replied, "Oh, so he should be more like your husband, and not give a fuck if he sees you or not? Maybe that says something about you."

Gloves were coming off.

Linda flamed red, "How dare you? This isn't about my husband."

Monica smirked, "You're the one that inserted husbands into this conversation. Mine wants me, or at least he did until the other day. If I'm lucky, maybe I have a small chance of fixing that. Where's your husband this week?"

"He's a partner in his company. He has to travel."

"Oh? Maybe he just doesn't mind being away from you."

"Fuck you and grow up. Not all marriages are about making babies and pushing strollers around. We're perfectly happy," said Linda.

Monica thought that Linda was protesting a little too much, but she no longer cared. She said, "Well, it's MY decision as to whether or not I try to make my marriage work. I'm sorry to say that I've been prioritizing the needs of my company over the needs of my marriage. That stops today."

Linda replied, "Monica you are an excellent manager, and obviously, we have worked very well together over the years. I'd hate to see your career come to a sudden halt over this."

Monica was boiling. "Was that a threat!? Well, here's one for you to think about. Donald is waiting for MY call, not yours. He sees ME as the key contact for this account, not you. Are you sure you want all that goodwill that MY team and I have built with them over the last nine months to go sour so soon? You could miss out on those other divisions in Donald's company that everyone has been drooling over."

Linda said, "You aren't the only star in this organization. You can be replaced on this account."

Monica shrugged her shoulders. Unless Linda wanted to cut off her nose to spite her face, that was a bluff. For once, thanks to Donald's deferring to her as to the timing of the next meeting, she had the power, not Linda.

Monica had made her point. She had more important things to do at the moment than having a pissing contest with her manager. She stood to leave. Linda asked, "Where do you think you're going? We aren't finished here."

"Actually, we are finished, for now. Even though it's none of your business, since you obviously don't care, I'm going to try to save my marriage. I'll schedule the lunch meeting after I've made some progress with that."

Showing where the power did lie at the moment, Linda said, "But who knows how long that could take, or if it happens at all."

Monica smirked at Linda and replied, "Now I think you are starting to get the picture. I'll be out the rest of the day." Then she strutted out the door not giving a fuck at the moment what Linda thought.

She stopped by her desk and gathered her laptop and a few important things on the off chance, though unlikely, that she wasn't allowed back in the building. Honestly, she wasn't sure she wanted to come back. She hated to throw away the gift that Donald had just given her, but was her job worth it anymore? The people certainly weren't.

John had said, "Here's your epiphany. Watch their reactions. It was necessary for you to finally see who you work with."

She thought he nailed it regarding her colleagues. Not one word of encouragement from them. It was from the client team, Stephanie and Donald, that she was shown any support. Epiphany indeed.

Monica was quickly concluding that her time with her company would be ending soon.

Now? She needed to go find her husband.

______________

As soon as she was in her SUV, she called him, but it went straight to voice mail. She decided to send him a text. First, she sent him a picture of his wedding ring in her hand.

She texted: "I'm keeping this safe until I see you again. You may not have the ring for now, but you still have my heart, which is no longer split between you and my company."

There was no reply, but that was okay.

Monica knew her next course of action, which was to bring in the big guns -- his parents. They may not tell her where he is, but they would not turn her away.

At home, she packed an overnight bag, changed into some jeans, inserted John's ring into her pocket, hopped into her SUV, and took off as fast as she dared towards Austin, where John's parents lived.

She had just over an hour to think about what she was going to say. She continued rolling excuses through her mind but decided that there had been too many excuses and that she would beg for his parents' mercy.

When she arrived at John's parents' house in an older suburb of Austin, she knocked, hoping that someone was home and would answer. Someone did, his mom.

As soon as the door was cracked, Monica flung herself to his mom, not waiting to see her reaction.

Beverly Blake hugged her back and stroked her hair. "Shhhh. There, there, dear. You're going to be okay. I know it's going to be hard, but we'll try to help you through this," said his mom.

Monica pleaded, "But I don't want to go through this. I know I made a mistake."

Beverly sighed, "Yes, you did, but the problem isn't just a one-time mistake. How long has John tried to talk to you about your work?"

She whispered, "A long time."

"Don't try to sugar coat it, Monica."

She knew. "It's been years, but mainly since our previous vacation."

"That's right. He hoped his traveling more would get your attention. Clearly it didn't," said Beverly.

"But I told him that I missed him when he traveled."

"Didn't he tell you, that he missed you when you worked?"

Monica said, "That's all true, but I can change. Maybe it took his leaving me stuck on a boat for almost two days to see it, but I see it now."

"Do you? Are you sure?"

This wasn't going quite the way that Monica had expected. Beverly had always been a supporter of their marriage. "I am sure, Beverly. If I could just speak to John, I can prove that I'm ready to do better. I can. Will he be here? Can I see him?"

Monica could see Beverly trying to figure out how to answer that question without giving away too much.

"Sweetie, I know you need support and help, but believe me, he does, too. If you stay here to wait for, or worse, ambush him, he won't stay. He'll go stay with a friend or something, and then neither of us will know where he is. Would you be willing to go back home and let me try to arrange a meeting for you? I promise you that I'll really try?"

"I could go back, but I would prefer to stay at a nearby hotel?"

"Are you sure? I don't know when he's going to want to meet with you. He's hurting."

Monica snickered, "Yeah? I know it's my fault, but I just had divorce papers delivered to me this morning. I'm hurting, too."

Beverly hugged Monica, "We all are, dear."

As Monica left Beverly to find a hotel, she rolled around in her mind the things that Beverly had said. She could finally see that this was it. Now that the craziness of the day was over, and she spent a little more time thinking, she realized that her husband didn't have those papers prepared over the weekend. For them to have been ready for delivery on a Monday morning, he would have had to have provided some guidance to his attorney before their vacation.

That hurt.

It was almost like he expected something to happen. Then she realized, with her taking her laptop, how could he not expect something to happen. That was her fault, also. Sigh. At least he hadn't cut off the credit cards or started moving money around...yet.

She didn't think ass-kissing was going to be enough. She needed to prove to him that she would act differently if given a second chance? "Second?" She thought to herself, "Hmmph. Who knows how many second chances I've already been given?" If yet another chance was given, she would not abuse it.

She thought about her heated conversation with Andrea. "How badly do you want to keep your husband?" More than anything. More than her job, for sure. Certainly, nobody at her work gave a flying fuck about her or her marriage.

She kept trying to have her cake and eat it too, and for what? She knew what she needed to do. It was the biggest professional risk of her life, but she was certain that had been her problem so far. Now she felt rather stupid for having waited as long as she had to do what she was about to do.

She picked up her phone and prepared to hit the hornets' nest. To Linda, she texted: "I quit."

Immediately her phone began to ring, but she ignored it. Ping. Voicemail. Ping. She received a text. Her phone was making all sorts of noises until she decided to mute Linda for a while. She didn't want to take a chance on missing something from anyone else.

She found a hotel about ten minutes from John's parents' house. Once she checked into her room, she was struck at that moment by how alone she was: no husband, no friends, no family nearby, and now no colleagues either. She could call her parents but didn't want them to worry.

She mused, "Hmm. Well if I don't have a job, I guess I had better put a resume together in case John doesn't take me back."

She had just cracked her laptop to start on her resume when her phone rang. It wasn't anyone she was expecting.

Curious, she answered, "Hello?"

"Hi Monica, it's Donald Rodriguez. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course, sir. What can I do for you?" Then she thought, "probably not much, since I just quit."

He replied, "How are you doing?

She scoffed, "Well, under the circumstances, I'm holding up. I'm in Austin now, trying to convince my husband, through his parents, to talk to me."

"I want to apologize again for any way that we may have contributed to your difficulties. Truly, I didn't know."

She said, "Thank you for that. It means more than you know. However, I have to place my problems at my own feet. I should have pushed back. I hope I'm not too late in seeing that."

"I hope so, too. I couldn't say this at your office for what will be obvious in a moment, but I may have a way to help you, and you are in the right town for that."

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure I'm following you," she said.

"Monica, we've historically worked with Wilcox Capital Bankers in Austin. We couldn't this time because he's so short-staffed at the moment, due to several people being let go or leaving."

Monica knew that was a huge understatement. Mr. Wilcox cleaned house following that scandal that was in the papers for weeks last Halloween. It took a lot of courage, and a willingness to lose clients and money over that decision. Also, it was taking time to rebuild his firm's reputation.

Donald continued, "Even his outside consultants couldn't take on this project, which is why we decided to give your company a try. Obviously, we think you did an excellent job. I would try to hire you myself, but frankly, I prefer your working on the other side. Also, I know that Spencer is still looking for capable people to fill some of his openings. As you can imagine, that scandal has made some talented people apprehensive about working for him, which is too bad. He runs a fine organization. He just hired a few bad apples."

Monica wondered where this was going. Did he know Mr. Wilcox on a first name basis? "What are you getting at, sir?"

"Would you be receptive to my giving Spencer a call on your behalf? I think you would be a real asset to his organization. The only loyalty I have to your company is you and your team. You know there should be a few more bond offerings with my company over the next few years. I think Spencer's hiring you would be a win-win for all of us. He gets a great employee that will help him regain our business. I get a trusted partner at a firm I know and respect. And you, young lady, would get an employer that is known as family-friendly. Maybe that could help your current situation."

She was shocked speechless.

"Monica? Are you still there?"

"I...I...I am, sir. I don't know what to say."

Donald chuckled, "Well first, you can stop calling me 'sir,' and start calling me Donald. Second, I hope you say that I can call him. At a minimum, the two of you should talk. As I said, I believe it would be good for all of us."

"Thank you, sir. I mean, Donald. Yes. Yes, I would appreciate that."

"I'm glad to hear it. So, no rush in setting up a lunch meeting in San Antonio. Depending on how things go, I hope we'll be having it in Austin. Do you understand?"

"I do...and thank you."

She could hear the smile through the phone, "It's been my pleasure. Now go get your husband back."

She couldn't help it, but she sniffed, "I'm going to try, Donald."

"Good luck, Monica. Call me if you need me. Goodbye."

She disconnected the call and thought, "Where the fuck has someone like that been for that last few years?" She knew the answer to that, which was that she was holding on to her promotions and seniority so tightly that she wouldn't consider looking for another job. Clearly not one of her better decisions.

As excited as she was about maybe landing in Austin with Wilcox, she resisted the urge to keep trying to call or text John, but it was hard. Around dinner time, her phone rang.

It was Beverly, "Monica, can you have dinner with us tomorrow night? We'll ALL be here."

"Of course, I can make it."

Beverly said, "I'm glad. Any special requests?"

"What? Oh, no, Beverly. Whatever is served will be fine. Would you like me to bring anything?" Monica asked.

"Just your love for my son."

Monica smiled, "He'll always have that."

"I know that, Dear. We'll see you tomorrow. 6:00 pm. Bye-bye."

She would have preferred to have that conversation with her husband, but she would take what she could get.

Dinner was on her own for the evening, so she left to get a bite to eat and returned to her hotel.

She was excited at the prospect of talking to Mr. Wilcox and was determined to have her resume updated in case she had the opportunity. She hoped she would get that chance soon, since she was going to need a job.

She was able to quickly use her existing LinkedIn profile plus add some recent responsibilities to bring everything up to date. If she were truly casting a wide net, she would pay someone to critique it, but she was hoping this would just be as a courtesy for a discussion with Mr. Wilcox. Hopefully.

She worked past midnight to make it look perfect and would go in the morning to a local office store to have it printed on some nice paper. Then she would be ready.

She checked her phone before she went to bed and could see a dozen replies from Linda. Ha. She would read those tomorrow.

________________

She could have slept in but didn't. She got up, found a nearby Staples, and printed her resume on some nice heavy resume paper. Then, she purchased a simple portfolio in which to carry it.

As she was driving towards a Snooze to eat some of her favorite French toast for breakfast, her phone rang from an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Blake? Please hold for Mr. Wilcox."

What? A few seconds later she heard a "Good morning, Monica. This is Spencer Wilcox. Do you have a few minutes?" She loved his southern twang. She had one too, but his was much thicker, and she suspected he could dial it up or down as the occasion fit.

"Yes, Mr. Wilcox, I do."

"I appreciate your taking the time. Donald Rodriguez called me yesterday and told me that you and I should spend a few minutes talking. I know this is last minute and you may have things going on in town, but could I persuade you to join me for lunch today?"

"I'd like that, sir. I'm mentally prepared to have a conversation with you, but I didn't bring anything formal with me to wear. Would it offend you terribly if we went to a place where I could wear jeans?"

"Not at all. I prefer it that way. This can be a casual get to know you lunch. How does that sound?"

Monica replied, "That sounds quite nice. Where and what time works for you?"

"Let's meet at Terry Black's. It's a good BBQ place, but they have other things as well. I'll have my admin text you the location. How about at noon?"

"Noon it is. Thank you, Mr. Wilcox. I'm looking forward to our lunch."

"So am I."

They disconnected the call and she thought, "Wow. Those two men move fast."

_____________

She arrived several minutes early to the restaurant and scanned her texts from Linda. It was what she expected to see, which started with "What? Let's be reasonable," but ended with, "Fine. You'll be sorry."

She thought, "Well. One bridge thoroughly burnt. Let's hope Wilcox works out."