“I’ve wanted to tell you a hundred times but I couldn’t get thoughts to make sense when I tried to put them into words.”
“We’ve both changed. It’s a process and not an overnight one. It’s a good thing though.” Sarah said encouragingly.
Stephen’s own tears swelled the brim of his eyelids, “I’m so sorry I didn’t stay with you and Hailey.”
“But you made it back to us. Even if it was in a few pieces.” Sarah’s joke broke the last icy layer of tension and a smile spread across both their faces.
Laughing, Stephen replied, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that too. Not too many near-death experiences at a desk job. I guess I brought that on myself.”
“No, you didn’t bring that on yourself. But that experience brought you back to me. And it doesn’t matter how hard or long the road was. It’s been used for good because we’re here now, together.”
Stephen smiled with relief, “I’m just thankful for every day I get to wake up next to you. Every day that I get to watch Hailey grow stronger and see her living a full life.
Sarah’s attention became distracted, “Speaking of, we have a fourteenth birthday party to start planning for.”
“Isn’t she turning three next month?” Stephen said.
Pointing towards the second floor, Sarah responded, “You go tell that to that girl upstairs who’s teaching me how to highlight my own hair.”
“Your hair looks great, by the way.” Stephen quickly complimented.
“Thanks. But we’re doing it tomorrow.”
“Oh.” His face turned sheepish.
“It’s okay. The idea is for you not to notice when I hide my gray hairs.”
“I really don’t know where to go from here.” Stephen sat up straight as if he were the misbehaving schoolboy putting on his good boy face.
“Fourteenth birthday party ideas.” Sarah reminded.
His body slouched back into the cushions, “Ahh, can I get past this weekend first?”
“Oh, you mean that little thing you’re doing Sunday?” Sarah prodded.
Stephen’s head rested on the couch and his eyes glazed across the ceiling. “Yeah, that little 26.2 mile thing.”
“Hey, you haven’t been running much lately. Are you going to be okay?” Sarah asked.
“It’s tapering, Sarah. You’re supposed to reduce your miles as you get closer to race day.”
Smirking at her husband’s confidence, Sarah answered, “You haven’t gone for a run in three weeks.”
“Okay, maybe I’m testing a new extreme tapering strategy.”
“You’re stressed. But I get the feeling this isn’t about the marathon, is it?”
Stephen sat up and let out an exhausted breath. “It’s the Rockwell account. I can’t get my mind off it.”
“Tomorrow’s the meeting, right?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow we find out whether or not we stay in business.” Stephen’s tone grew concerned.
“It doesn’t matter how long or how hard this road is. We’re here and we’re together.” Sarah reassured him with a two arm grasp around his shoulders.
“Thanks hon. If I can get through this meeting with Rockwell tomorrow, that marathon is going to be a breeze.”
Having fallen asleep with his wife in his arms and nothing between them but a peace that only the truth could bring, Stephen woke to a restfulness he had not known in years.
Frustrated, irritated and paranoid about the sweat beginning to form on his forehead panic began to settle in as Stephen unfolded the knot and dramatically yanked at the shell of the tie; ripping it off his neck.. Looking down at the material in his hands he noticed the hidden slip stitch had busted and now the interlining of the tie was becoming exposed from the backside. He took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling as if there were some magical tie fairy who could drop down and solve the crisis of the moment. He resolved that wishing was about the best he could hope for. It wasn’t as if Sarah would suddenly burst into this building’s men’s room and fix it for him. Especially not after he had rejected her assistance back at the house when her subtle offer unconsciously called his manhood into question. With his man-card held in the balance, Stephen looked into the mirror, steadied his hand and pulled the tail of the tie and adjusted the center to form a perfect divot. He sighed with one part relief and one part embarrassment at the extent of drama he had just put himself through.
A bell chimed signaling the arrival of the elevator. The bronzed brushed doors slowly moved aside and he faced the empty chamber. Stepping inside, he took a moment to inspect the alignment of his hair in the mirror covered walls.
Speaking to an infinity of reflections he begrudgingly expressed, “You should’ve gotten a haircut.” His fingers made their way onto the rows of buttons and he pressed the button for the twenty third floor.
Rockwell Development Company took up the entire twenty third floor as well as the subsequent two above it. Rockwell was the third largest real estate developer in the entire region. More importantly, they were Stephen’s single largest customer and accounted for nearly half of his business.
McDowell had been right about the real estate industry and the economy as a whole. It did take a major downturn and the results were brutal. The Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008 was more devastating than anyone alive had experienced in business. The residential real estate market was brought to a screeching halt and everyone held their breath waiting for the other shoe to drop on the commercial real estate business. In hindsight, Stephen realized that McDowell should have sold his company long before their conversation. Any sort of buyout would have been preferable to the downward spiral he rode until bigger competitors came in and bought assets and talent on the cheap.
Instead, even his most experienced and loyal staff was laid off. The timing of which landed them in a market where people became more and more desperate just to have a job and hiring firms were able to force workers to accept lower paying salaries just to maintain a livelihood. Those who couldn’t were pushed out of the business altogether and found themselves in the larger pool of the recession’s turmoil competing in unfamiliar industries against much more seasoned job seekers from that field. A few desperate and obviously chemically imbalanced radicals did something crazy like start their own firm, as Stephen had.
For a season, the entrepreneurial life seemed to fit Stephen. He enjoyed the work and clearly had a skill for the appraisal business. As real estate investment buckled under the massive housing crash of 2008, development firms had little choice but to respond to the ongoing economic downturn with a series of cost-cutting measures; some of which included opting away from long-term relationships with established companies and instead turning towards short-term contract labor for their appraisal needs. This opened a door of opportunity for Stephen’s fledging start up. The rates he was able to charge were not as high for a small business but Stephen was able to expand his business with additional volume. He had duplicated his efforts by bringing in other industry job seekers he could train and contract out to the larger real estate companies, many of which were established enough to transition and expand their resources into building renovations to supplement their dwindling development businesses.
S&S Appraisals, Stephen and Sarah’s fledgling appraisal business never really exploded but there was income and some notable periods of solid growth. The growth hadn’t come in time to prevent the bank from threatening to push them out of their home. Thankfully, the sale of Tom’s house had provided enough capital to avoid a fire sell to preying investors offering below-market prices to families under the threat of foreclosure.
The business brought in enough to pay the household bills and cover the necessary upkeep on a used vehicle with over eighty five thousand miles on it. The income also covered deductibles for Hailey’s treatments. What continually stretched the household budget was paying for all the supplemental care deemed to be “non-critical” under their ever changing medical plan. Stephen and Sarah, despite losing the argument with the benefits administrators, hadn’t considered it extravagance to provide their daughter with access to “additional” oncology specialists or “luxuries” like medicines to deter week-long nausea. While it meant a few more highly processed but less expensive meals, they made it work.