4: 4
The next morning, Sawyer took a call and couldn't stop grinning.
"Just got the confirmation from Dickerson's side. His new project is going straight to our department."
"Another twenty-million deal. Chavez's project can wait."
"Second-half numbers? We won't have to sweat those."
"Everyone keep your heads down and work hard. No funny ideas, and you'll all get your share."
Stuart clapped. Meryl gave two claps of her own.
When he was done, Sawyer seemed to hesitate a moment, then called me into his office.
"Dickerson asked for you by name."
"Thing about you is, you've got the ability. You just take yourself way too seriously."
He said it like he had every right to.
"Finish this project properly before you go."
"I can put in a good word or two for you in your reference check."
"Your call."
I smiled.
He took that as me falling in line and waved me out.
Dickerson was an old friend of the company chairman. Five years of working together, and he'd only ever trusted me.
Asking for me by name this time was Dickerson's own decision.
I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop. My phone buzzed.
A voice message from Dickerson.
"Gloria, I heard you're leaving?"
"That Sawyer guy came to me. Said the project would be handled by some Meryl Hughes on his team from now on."
"I told him you're the one who signs the contract, and you're the one who does the proposal."
"Switch people and I don't sign."
I sent back one line.
"Thank you, Mr. Dickerson."
"Don't mention it."
"Oh, and your chairman is coming by for tea next week. If you're free, you should stop in too."
Dickerson didn't miss a thing.
He said tea, but what he was really telling me was that I could meet the chairman face to face.
At ten-thirty, Sawyer posted an announcement in the company-wide group.
Red background, gold letters, a clapping-hands sticker.
"Warmest congratulations to our department for landing a major annual account!"
"Led by Meryl Hughes, with execution support from Stuart Lambert."
Meryl leading it.
That was rich. Dickerson had never even met her.
The group lit up.
"Congrats!"
"Amazing!"
"We should all learn from Assistant Hughes!"
"A new sales champion, out of nowhere!"
Meryl replied underneath.
"Thank you to my manager for grooming me, and to the team for the support. I'll keep working hard."
Grooming.
Groomed by who?
I was the one who ran the factory visits with Dickerson, drank whiskey with him, pulled all-nighters reworking proposals. That's what earned his trust.
One word from Sawyer, "led by," and four years of my blood and sweat got hung around Meryl's neck.
You want to talk projects? Fine.
At two in the afternoon, I filled out a leave request and asked HR's Rita Chavez to process it.
She was curious. "You're leaving now, of all times?"
I could read what she was thinking.
"Relax, I'm not grabbing my things and bolting."
"Those two big deals. Without me, let's see if Sawyer can hold them together."
I packed up my laptop, grabbed my bag.
Booked a ticket to the nearest resort island.
I'd been saving up PTO for a long time. This was the perfect time to use it.
Nine the next morning, I was lying on a lounge chair on the hotel balcony.
Facing the ocean, sun warm, flowers in bloom.
My phone buzzed more than forty times, all missed calls from Sawyer.
"Gloria Simmons! Have you lost your mind?"
He was howling like a rabid dog.
"Dickerson's pushing for the proposal. You're not here, so who does it?"
"Chavez's project just fell through and you still have the nerve to take leave—"
"Manager Sawyer."
I took a sip of coconut water.
"Dickerson wants to sign with me. Send Meryl over instead."
"Chavez was waiting on me too. Send Stuart over."
"I don't even have permission to use a sheet of A4 paper. How would I dare do a proposal?"
On the other end, Sawyer had nothing to say.
"You've gotten too big for your damn britches. Think the sales department can't run without you—"
"The leave went through proper channels."
I smiled.
"Aren't you the one who's all about the rules?"
Just then, on Sawyer's end, there was the sound of a door being shoved open in a hurry.
Then Stuart's voice, panicked.
"Sawyer, headquarters... they suddenly want to audit our accounts over here."
There it was.
Sawyer went quiet for a moment, then roared.
"Gloria Simmons, have you been scheming against me this whole time?"
I smiled out at the water.
"I wouldn't dare. You're the one who came after me first, with a single sheet of A4 paper."
From here on, we'll see who's standing at the end.
Let me show you exactly who a single sheet of A4 paper destroys.
