Chapter 68 - The Vote I Could Still Cast
I still had influence.
Stepping aside had not erased my ownership interests or every right attached to them.
Rebecca made sure I understood the decisions available to me.
Dana made sure I understood what the board recommended.
Independent oversight.
A permanent change in executive leadership.
Stronger review of disputed employee findings.
A clear route for people to raise concerns outside the managers whose decisions they were challenging.
The changes would cost money.
They would also make certain decisions slower.
I knew exactly how I would once have described that.
I sat at the table while the recommendations were discussed.
For the first time in years, I had not helped prepare the agenda.
When Dana reached the question of executive leadership, she looked at me.
“Would you like to speak?”
I had written a statement.
I had also crossed out half of it.
“I won’t seek to return as chief executive,” I said.
The room remained quiet.
“I support appointing independent leadership and the oversight arrangements presented today.”
A director asked whether I intended that support to depend on any agreement concerning the unresolved claims.
“No.”
Rebecca had explained the distinction carefully.
Leaving a role would not decide my responsibilities for what had happened while I held it.
I said so.
There were questions.
Financial ones.
Practical ones.
Questions about the transition.
I answered those directed to me and let others answer the rest.
Then we voted.
Afterward, I returned to my former office to collect the few things still there.
A photograph of Lena and the children.
A small drawing Isabel had folded into my briefcase.
A pen I had never liked but kept using because my father had given it to me.
I held it for a moment.
Then put it in the box.
At the door, my assistant stood up.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Caldwell.”
“Thank you.”
She looked as though she wanted to say more.
I waited.
Finally, she asked, “Who should approve the travel requests already waiting?”
“The interim director’s office will confirm the process.”
She nodded.
Work continued.
On the way home, I called Lena.
“It’s done.”
“How do you feel?”
“Several things.”
“Do you want company?”
“Yes.”
“I’m at home.”
When I arrived, she met me on the porch.
I put down the box.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she wrapped her arms around me.
I held her.
No one said it was for the best.
No one asked me to turn the loss into a lesson before I had felt it.
May you like
We stood there until Isabel opened the door and asked why we were blocking the entrance.
Then we went inside.
