I'm not going to tell Victoria how to run her company, Mr. Hawthorne. I'm not in that lane, and I never have been. But I'll tell you something for free. You're making the same mistake everyone around her makes.
You're looking at the company and forgetting to look at her. He paused at the edge of the table. That's a problem because Victoria notices everything and she notices when she's invisible. He walked out of the cafe. His heart was going fast, but his hands were steady and his face was composed, and he made it to the service corridor before he let out a long, slow breath that he had been managing since the moment he sat down.
He called Victoria. She picked up on the first ring. "What did he want?" She asked. "He wants you to come to the table before the event," Marcus said.
"He framed it as concern for the company and and he asked me to convince you to consider the merger seriously. A pause. I declined. Silence for a moment. Then what did you say to him?
Marcus thought about it. Decided on the truth the way he had been deciding on the truth more frequently in the last 4 days than in the previous 3 years combined. I told him he keeps looking at the company and forgetting to look at you. He said a long pause. Marcus, she said quietly.
Two more days, he said. Keep rebuilding the term sheet. I'll make sure the building is ready for the event. And on the other side of this, we have that conversation. The real one, she said.
The real one, he confirmed. He hung up. He went back to work. He was in the service elevator going back up to 21 when his phone buzzed one more time. A text from Ava.
Can we have pancakes this weekend? He smiled for the first time all day. He typed back, "Yeah, baby girl, we can have pancakes." She sent back a string of emojis that he didn't fully understand, but correctly interpreted as enthusiasm. He pocketed the phone.
The elevator opened on 21. He had two more days and a building to take care of and a truth that was finally, after 3 years of careful silence, ready to be spoken out loud. He stepped off the elevator. He got back to work. The morning of the announcement event, Marcus woke up at 4:47 the same way he always did.