Chapter 14 - The Empty Calendar
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December arrived with a strange emptiness.
For the past fifteen years, Claire’s December calendar had been a battlefield of color-coded obligations. The Mercer corporate holiday party, Eleanor’s winter luncheon, Daniel’s partners’ dinner, gift shopping for an extended network of people who preferred gift cards but demanded the presentation of thought.
Now, the squares on her kitchen calendar were mostly blank.
She stared at it while drinking her morning coffee.
It was liberating. It was terrifying.
Nora had invited her to a holiday market on the fifteenth. She had a dentist appointment on the tenth.
The rest was open space.
Her phone vibrated on the counter.
It was a text from Daniel.
Are you coming to the Vanguard restructuring presentation tomorrow?
Claire sighed, setting her mug down.
She still consulted for the small hotel group, Vanguard, two days a week. Daniel, surprisingly, had been brought in by the new regional owners of Mercer Holdings as an external consultant to advise on the transition.
Their professional paths crossed occasionally, a delicate dance of forced civility.
She typed a reply.
Yes. I am presenting the lobby redesign at 10 AM.
I’ll be there for the financial review at 11, Daniel wrote back. Coffee beforehand?
Claire looked at the blinking cursor.
The invitation was casual, almost practiced.
He was trying to build a new routine, a comfortable friendship out of the wreckage.
May you like
I have a meeting at 9, she replied. I’ll see you in the boardroom.
She put the phone away. She did not owe him the comfort of her company outside the boundaries she had set.
