She shakes her head. “IT is reviewing access logs but it could be anyone. The document was shared internally with the entire executive team and their assistants.”
“So we’re looking at twenty possible suspects.”
She shakes her head. “More like thirty if you count everyone who had indirect access.”
I pour coffee. Add one sugar, no cream.
“What about the donor response?” I ask Paloma.
She hesitates. “Mixed. Some are waiting for more information. Others are talking about pulling out entirely.”
I take my coffee and head back to my office without another word.
When I sit down at my desk, I notice something immediately.
There’s a purple sticky note on top of the folder Bree brought me earlier. The one with the contracts.
Except when I look closer, I realize the folder doesn’t just contain contracts.
It contains two printed emails.
One is the draft I wrote this morning. My defensive, cold, corporate response to the donors.
The other is a rewrite.
She has access to my Drafts folder, of course, so she didn’t break any security protocols by doing retrieving it. Still, I didn’t ask for a rewrite.
Out of curiosity, I read it anyway.
Same basic structure. Same key points. But the tone is completely different.
Warm.
Accountable.
Human.
I read the sticky note.
This version won’t make them angrier.
No signature. But I know Bree’s handwriting by now. I’ve seen it on enough calendar updates and meeting notes.
I read her version again.
Then a third time, looking for flaws I can use to justify rejecting it.
There aren’t any.
It acknowledges donor concerns without being defensive. It reframes the charity program as an investment rather than a cost center.
It’s everything mine isn’t.
AndI hate that.
I hate that my secretary, who’s been here less than two weeks, can write circles around my VP of Communications. I hate that she saw exactly what I was doing wrong and fixed it without being asked. I hate that I need her help when I’ve spent the last week treating her like shit.
Most of all, I hate how much I want to walk out there right now and ask her how she learned to write like this. How she knows exactly what people need to hear. How she makes accountability sound like strength instead of weakness.
