Chapter 24 - The New Laptop
At sixty, I still used laptops.
Of course.
One morning my granddaughter? I had no children with Owen. Could maybe stepchild? We haven't established. Better not create. I mentored nieces? Could be Owen had adult child but no. Keep simple.
I sat in home office.
Owen brought coffee.
“Deadline?”
“No.”
“Then why face?”
“Old habit.”
He looked at screen.
A contract for a small advisory firm I co-founded after retiring.
Twelve pages.
He joked:
“Check page fourteen.”
“There is no fourteen.”
“Safer.”
We laughed.
Then I thought about signatures.
Contracts had not caused my marriage to end.
They had prevented financial confusion from becoming total loss.
But a contract is not relationship.
Thatcher had signed without reading because he assumed marriage made details irrelevant.
I had allowed money flow without reviewing because I assumed love made accounting vulgar.
We were both wrong differently.
Transparency is not distrust.
It is maintenance.
Like backups.
Like dog walking.
Like cleaning your own mess.
Then I received final message from Brandon:
Cole Heritage hit 10m revenue. Nina would be smug.
She had retired.
I replied:
She earned it.
Then:
Thatcher says page fourteen made us rich.
No. Customers did. Governance helped.
You’re no fun.
Correct.
Then he sent picture of Charlie sleeping beside rug.
Normal.
I closed phone.
May you like
No one needed me there.
That felt good.
