Chapter 9 - SEVEN YEARS AFTER SHE FIRED ME, ELAINE WALKED INTO MY STORE AGAIN
By then I was no longer running one flagship.
I was President of Retail Operations for Belle & Vale’s U.S. stores.
Not CEO.
Nathan still held that role.
I had no desire to inherit every problem in the building.
Daniel and I had married two years earlier.
Simple ceremony.
No Belle & Vale products as favors.
That was my rule.
Grant had remarried too.
A woman named Marissa who worked in nonprofit finance.
Elaine disliked her.
Of course.
Apparently progress has limits.
Then one December afternoon, Elaine walked into the Manhattan flagship.
Alone.
Eighty now.
Smaller somehow.
Same posture.
She came to the counter.
My assistant from years earlier, Maya, was now store director.
She saw Elaine.
Then saw me.
I happened to be visiting.
Life loves symmetry.
Elaine looked at Maya’s nameplate.
Then at me.
“You’re still here.”
I smiled.
“So are you.”
She almost smiled back.
Almost.
Then:
“I need help.”
That was new.
“What with?”
A gift for Marissa.
I stared.
“Grant’s wife?”
“Yes.”
“What does she like?”
Elaine looked offended.
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t need help.”
Fair.
I called over a sales associate.
Not myself.
Boundaries.
The associate helped Elaine choose a scarf and leather card case.
At checkout, Elaine looked at me.
“I heard the company had another record year.”
“Yes.”
“Grant says you had something to do with it.”
“Thousands of people had something to do with it.”
She nodded slowly.
Then:
“I was cruel to you.”
I did not speak.
She continued:
“I thought work was something people like you did for people like us.”
There it was.
Ugly.
Precise.
“And?”
“I was wrong.”
I waited.
She looked annoyed.
“Are you going to make me say all of it?”
“Yes.”
Some pleasures remain.
Elaine exhaled.
“You built something here.”
“Not ownership.”
“Competence.”
“Relationships.”
“A career.”
“And I treated it as though Grant’s inheritance mattered more because it came from a man with our last name.”
Good.
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“Thank you.”
No hug.
No miracle.
Then she said:
“I still think that locksmith overcharged me.”
I laughed.
“He never changed anything.”
“Exactly.”
There she was.
Elaine paid for the gifts.
Full price.
No family discount.
Maya made sure.
As she left, Elaine paused by the register.
The same place she had removed my nameplate.
She looked down.
Now Maya’s name was there.
Elaine did not touch it.
May you like
That was enough.
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