I pointed my pen at her. “Do not.”
“I said nothing.”
“You breathed in italics.”
Summer folded her hands. “A consulting assessment makes sense.”
Gabe nodded. “It would help. I can run what we have. I need a better framework before we scale further.”
There it was.
Not failure. Growth.
Daisy waited at the edge of full-time. Annie was preparing to leave without abandoning us. Emme handled vendor contracts with velvet gloves and sharp clauses, while Rayann built Rome from another continent. Brynn saw pipeline through profanity. Summer carried operations without fanfare, and Gabe held a department together with Max’s old system and his own steady hands.
Wilder Horizons had not stopped needing me.
That was the part I had to get right.
They still looked to me when the room needed direction. They still waited for my judgment before the shape became final. My standards lived in the walls, the contracts, the way Summer challenged a timeline and Emme softened a no until a client thanked her for it.
The company did not need my fingerprints on every surface to prove I loved it.
It needed me clear enough to make the next right call.
I set the pen down with steady hands. “Daisy, include security architecture assessment under new business. Gabriel, send me the current protocol matrix and Max’s last full review. Summer, I’ll draft the consulting scope and send it to you before contact.”
Daisy typed. Gabe nodded. Summer made one note.
No one applauded.
Thank God.
After the meeting, I returned to my office with Ranger Wilder still judging the room from the corner of my desk.
Daisy appeared two minutes later with fresh coffee.
“Do you need anything else?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She straightened.
“Send Summer your availability for a longer conversation this week.”
Her face went carefully blank. “About?”
“Growth.”
“That is either exciting or how people get assigned new filing systems.”
“Both, if you’re lucky.”
Her smile broke through before she could hide it. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Daisy.”
She paused in the doorway.
