Chapter 2 - The Resume
Marcus Webb had been my best friend since freshman orientation at UNC Charlotte, and my business partner for eleven years. He knew me well enough to know that when my voice went flat like that, something was wrong.
"Walk me through it," he said. "You know this guy?"
"He's my wife's boss," I said. "He was at my house tonight. He told me, in front of twenty people, to get a real job."
There was a long silence. Then Marcus said, very carefully, "You want me to reject him. I'll reject him. Sarah can send a polite decline first thing —"
"No," I said. I surprised myself with the word. "No. Not yet. Tell me what you know about him first."
I heard Marcus flipping pages. "OK. Richard Allen Voss, fifty-three. Co-founder of Voss & Palmer Development. Twenty-eight years in commercial real estate. Currently Senior Managing Director. Applied for our SVP role — the one we opened after Henderson left. His resume is impressive. Big deals in the Triangle, Charlotte, Atlanta. References include two former partners."
"Is he leaving Voss & Palmer, or is he being pushed out?"
"That's the interesting part. I called a friend at CBRE who knows the firm. Word is Diane Palmer — his co-founder — is consolidating power. She brought in a new president six months ago. Richard's been frozen out. He's still got the title, but his deal flow dried up. He's either interviewing or he's about to be shown the door."
I stared at the resume on my screen. The man who had called me a freeloader was drowning, and he didn't even know it.
"Dan?" Marcus said. "You still there?"
"Yeah. I'm here." I rubbed my eyes. "Marcus, what's the timeline on this role?"
"We were hoping to have someone hired in three weeks. Sarah's got four candidates besides him. He's the most qualified on paper."
"Keep him in the pool," I said. "Don't tell anyone who he is to me. Schedule him for a first-round interview with you and the hiring committee. I want to sit in."
"Dan." Marcus's voice was careful. "You want to interview your wife's boss. The guy who just insulted you. I have to ask — are you sure this isn't about revenge?"
I thought about it. I thought about Jake's confused face. Lily's frozen hands. Claire's small voice apologizing for a man who didn't deserve it.
"It's not revenge," I said. "It's information. If he's as good as his resume says, we should hire him — and I should get over what happened. If he's not, we'll find out in the interview. Either way, I want to look the man in the eye when he tells me how great he is. Fair?"
Marcus was quiet for a beat. "Fair. But Dan — if Claire finds out you're stringing her boss along while she still works for him, that's going to blow up. You know that, right?"
"I know."
"I'll schedule him for Thursday. Two o'clock. Conference room B. You can sit at the back. We'll introduce you as a consultant."
"Thanks, Marcus."
I hung up and sat in the dark office for a long time. Then I got up and went to the kitchen. Claire was at the table, a glass of wine untouched in front of her, staring at her phone.
"Who was that?" she said.
"Marcus. Work stuff."
She nodded. She didn't ask what kind. We'd been married eleven years, and there were things we didn't push. I wished, not for the first time, that we pushed more.
"Claire," I said. "About tonight —"
"Please don't." She looked up, and her eyes were wet. "Dan, I can't — I can't talk about it right now. I have to go to work on Monday. He's my boss. If I make a thing of it, he'll make my life miserable. You know how this industry is."
I sat down across from her. "I know."
"He's been under so much pressure. Diane Palmer is taking over. I think he's scared. And when he's scared, he gets mean. It's not an excuse. It's just — I need this job, Dan. The promotion I'm up for — it's everything I've worked for. I can't rock the boat now."
I reached across the table and took her hand. She let me.
"I won't rock anything," I said. "I promise."
I didn't tell her about the email. I told myself it was to protect her. I told myself it was because she had enough on her plate.
I didn't tell myself, until much later, that it was also because I wanted to see what happened next.
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