The Sweetest Revenge

by Ransom, Jennifer

  “Tell them you want a hundred and fifty thousand. I know what these vice presidents make. And you want a guaranteed job until you say you don’t want it. In other words, your job as long as you want it. Make them put it in writing. And, make them pay my legal fees. You wouldn’t have had to hire me if they hadn’t wrongfully terminated you.”

  “Something’s fishy here,” I said. “Why would they be offering all of this to me? Steve didn’t call me when I was terminated. It’s been two months. No one has called me about my job.”

  “I agree. Something fishy. But they know they’re going to have to give you a settlement either way. For some reason, they want you back on the job,” Janice said.

  I stood up and opened the office door. I signaled the secretary sitting at a desk outside the office that we were ready for Steve to come back.

  Steve ambled in and took his seat at his desk.

  “My client wants a permanent position that can only end at her say-so,” Janice said as soon as Steve sat down. “In writing. She also wants you to pay my legal fees, which will not be cheap.”

  Steve nodded at Janice, then at me.

  “And,” Janice continued, “she wants one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to start, with a guaranteed increase every year of fifteen percent.”

  A smile began to play around Steve’s lips.

  “You drive a hard bargain,” he said looking at me. “But we can accommodate that.”

  “And,” Janice said, “we want back pay at the new salary rate for the months Amy has been out of a job.” I looked over at Janice. She was a bulldog!

  “You’ve got a deal,” Steve said.

  “I’ll draw up the contract,” Janice said. “You should get it sometime next week.”

  We stood to leave, but I still wasn’t satisfied.

  “I want to know the truth about why you’re offering me all of this,” I blurted out.

  Janice gave me a look that said to stop talking, but I ignored her.

  “I told you,” Steve said. “We value your work and think that what Sheila did was wrong.”

  “That’s not everything,” I said. “I’m not inclined to take this deal if I don’t know the full truth behind it. I don’t need to take this deal. I can walk away and get a good settlement.”

  Steve looked at Janice and then at me. He put his hands in a steeple on the desk in front of him.

  “Okay, Amy,” he said with resignation. “First of all, we know that Sheila didn’t follow the rules and we’re willing to admit that in a court of law, if it goes that far. You will receive a fair settlement. That was the way we planned to go with things until we got a call from one of our potential major donors.”

  “What does that have to do with me?” I asked.

  “Mr. Richmond wants to give the university the largest gift we’ve ever received. Not only that, he will bequeath a good amount of his assets to the university upon his death. But he won’t do it without you.”

  “Me?” I asked. I didn’t understand what was happening.

  “Yes. He asked that you personally handle his endowment and the paperwork for the bequeathment. When I told him you were no longer working with the university, he demanded to know why. He wouldn’t accept our usual PR answers about you moving on with your life or anything like that. He demanded to know why you were no longer working here.”

  I couldn’t believe this. I looked over at Janice, who shrugged. She had no idea what this was about either.

  “So we explained it all to him. We told him you had been wrongfully terminated. We said you were going to be compensated. That wasn’t good enough for him. He said that he wouldn’t give one red cent to the university if we didn’t make it right. And that meant, that you were handling his account.”

  I was stunned. I didn’t know what would have caused Keith Richmond to do such a thing. I had only met him the one time at his mother’s funeral.

  “So, Amy,” Steve said. “You’ve got us over a barrel here. It’s not that we don’t want you back or that we won’t welcome you with open arms. You’ve done a good job for us for fifteen years. But the bottom line is, we’re going to lose the biggest gift ever if you don’t come back.”

  That’s when I started to laugh. I could hardly control myself. The whole situation was surreal, at best. Janice started to chuckle too, and damn if Steve didn’t join in.

  Wiping tears from my eyes, I stood up. Janice followed suit.

  “Janice will let you know my decision,” I said.

  Janice and I walked out and took the elevator to the first floor. We were walking toward the big glass doors, when I stopped.

  “I think I’d like to go see my former co-workers,” I said.

  “I think that’s fine,” Janice said. “You’re the one with leverage now. That donor must have been very impressed with you.”

  “I don’t know why,” I said. “I was sympathetic to him at his mother’s funeral, but that’s the only time I’ve ever met him.”

  “It must have made quite an impression,” she said. “Call me when you’ve made your decision. I gotta tell ya, it’s a good deal. You could get an up-front settlement of several hundred thousand, maybe, but you can’t get a deal like this.”

  “I’ll let you know soon,” I said. I walked toward the door to the advancement department. I turned and gave Janice a little wave.

  I opened the door to my old department. Stacey, the receptionist sat at her desk. I smiled at her and walked past her.

  “Can I help you?” Stacey called after me. I turned around and looked at her.

  “Stacey, it’s Amy,” I said.

  “Amy?” She couldn’t seem to grasp the situation.

  “Yes, Amy. I’m thinking about returning to work here and I wanted to stop by.”

  “I’m sorry, Amy,” she said. “I didn’t recognize you.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m just going to visit for a minute. It’s all right. Steve knows I’m here.”

  I felt Stacey’s eyes on me as I walked down the corridor. I looked into my old office, which was empty and had boxes stacked on the floor. It looked like it had become a storage area! I kept walking and stopped at Carly’s office. She looked up at me. I could see that I didn’t register in her mind as someone she knew, but recognition dawned on her face. She walked over and gave me a hug.

  “I didn’t know who you were at first,” she said. “I’m glad to see you.”

  If I did decide to return to the university, Carly was going to be my right-hand person. I was going to make sure she was always treated fairly. She really seemed to care about me.

  “I’m thinking about coming back,” I said. “Steve has offered me my job back.”

  “I hope you do,” Carly said. “Things haven’t been the same around here since you left.”

  “Is Kate around?” I asked. “I’d like to see her before I leave.”

  “I think she’s in her office,” Carly said. Together we walked down the corridor and stepped into Kate’s office. She looked up at us with a harried expression. I could see she was in the throes of a big project.

  “What is it?” she demanded, looking at Carly, then at me.

  “Amy wanted to stop by and say hi,” Carly said gesturing at me.

  Blond Ambition gave me a long hard look. Then her face broke into a smile.

  “Amy! It’s so good to see you,” she said. I realized then that she must have known about the deal the university was going to offer me. Blond Ambition was no fool. She knew where her bread was buttered.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I might be coming back. Not sure yet.”

  “We want you to come back!” Blondie exclaimed. “We need you here!”

  How different it all was. I was a pariah when I was terminated and now I was the golden child. I would work on forgiving Blond Ambition for her transgressions.

  Carly and I walked out of Kate’s office and to the outer door. I waved at Stacey, the receptionist, who was always the last to know anyt
hing in our office. I gave Carly a hug and walked out into the clear fall day.

  Chapter Twelve

  I decided to let Steve and the university sweat it out. I called Janice to discuss the situation.

  “I might be able to get you five hundred thousand,” she said. “I would get fifty percent of that, so you’d have two hundred and fifty thousand before taxes. You could make that much in two more years of work.”

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “I can have my partner draw you up an air-tight contract on the terms we discussed with Steve. You just say the word.”

  “I’ll let you know next week,” I told her. I wanted to relish the sense of power I felt before I turned it over to the university. I wanted to feel like I had choices in my life.

  I spent the week languishing in bed with Midnight by my side. I watched TV a lot, but I also shopped for more furniture. I was tired of living in the den and bedroom. Unlike when Jim and I had collected furniture piece by piece from antiques shops and crafts fairs, I wanted to buy things to fill the empty spaces. I didn’t have time or inclination to shop around for years gathering stuff.

  I visited Ruth at the furniture store and bought a dining room table and china cabinet. I bought a floral sofa for the sitting room, along with a side table and coffee table. I asked Ruth about wrought iron beds, and she said she had a place that made them. I looked at her catalog and chose one for the spare room. I looked at several desks in the showroom and chose one for the smaller third bedroom. I needed a couch in there too, because I planned to make it my home office, and chose a plush beige love seat.

  When I walked out of the furniture store that day, I was Ruth’s best customer. Hell, I was her best friend, in a way.

  I just needed a small table and chairs for the kitchen, so I chose an iron set at Target. I also bought a new set of green ceramic everyday china. I wished I had sold my wedding set of everyday dishes at the estate sale, but I thought I needed something to eat on. I looked at the stainless sets and chose a simple pattern that felt heavy.

  When I got home, I packed up the stainless and dishes that Jim and I had been using throughout our marriage, though many dishes had been broken over the years. I dragged the boxes to the curb. By the next morning, the boxes were gone, and not by the trash people. I hoped whoever got them, enjoyed the dishes and stainless.

  And then, I had eradicated Jim from the house. If only I could eradicate him from my heart so easily.

  It was mid-October, and I spent a lot of time on the patio on my new outdoor furniture from Lowe’s. I looked at the woods surrounding my lot. One day after lunch, I walked to the edge of the woods, then plunged into the cool shade. I hadn’t been back there in years. I followed a little path to the creek, then followed the creek as far as it went through the acre I owned, before I ended up in someone else’s backyard. It was a peaceful walk and my spirit felt rejuvenated when I got back to the patio.

  I relaxed as much as I could while I considered the university’s deal. I didn’t have to work. I had plenty of money and I could stay where I was or I could leave town, as I had thought about doing before. But somewhere along the way, I had found myself again. I acknowledged to myself that I had incredible luck in the divorce, and then with the university’s offer. I knew that. But I felt a serenity I hadn’t felt in over a decade. I could make my own decision. It was my life.

  I called Janice the following week after our meeting with Steve and told her I’d take the deal. I didn’t have to continue to work if I didn’t like it, but at that point in my life, I needed to work. I needed to feel that I was contributing something, using my skills.

  “It’ll take a couple of weeks for us to draw the contract up,” she said. “But I’ll let Steve know. When you do think you want to start back?”

  “I guess after the contract is a done deal,” I said. “However long that takes.”

  It had been seven months since I’d seen Jim, except for that time at the garden center, if that counted. But I had not spoken to my husband since the divorce. I mean my ex-husband. It still hurt my heart when I thought about our early years together.

  But I tried not to dwell on Jim and our failed marriage. I kept busy around the house. I read books, I went on the Internet and Facebook, and I watched TV. I felt a serenity that I had never really known in my life, even though I was alone and unmarried.

  And then Bitsy, the wife of Jim’s partner, called me.

  “Amy, I’m sorry I never contacted you when you and Jim split up,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do, with Jim and Sam being partners and all. And now here I am calling you, wanting your friendship when I don’t deserve it.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. I was flabbergasted.

  “I mean that Sam has left me. He moved out last week, leaving me here to raise our two children.”

  My first impulse was to tell Bitsy that she had no business calling me now, when she and all the rest of the people in our crowd had abandoned me after Jim left. But I didn’t do that.

  “I’m sorry,” Bitsy, I said instead. “I know how rough it is, and even rougher I’m sure, with children.”

  “I didn’t think it could happen to me,” Bitsy said. She was beginning to sob.

  “Me either,” I said. “I guess a lot of people don’t think it can happen to them.” I’d be damned if I’d share anything about the demise of marriage with Bitsy.

  “Could I come see you after I get the kids to school tomorrow?” she asked.

  That was the last thing I wanted, but I felt pity for Bitsy. She had come from a wealthy family with sheltering parents. I said I’d see her in the morning.

  Bitsy knocked on the kitchen door at eight-fifteen. I was shocked by her appearance when I opened the door. Her hair was unkempt, she was wearing sweats, and she had gained at least fifty pounds.

  Bitsy was just as shocked by my appearance. “I can’t believe how much weight you’ve lost,” she said. “You look like you used to look.”

  I poured cups of coffee and we sat at the Target kitchen table. I offered some toast because that’s all I had. Bitsy ate it hungrily.

  “Sam says he wants to remain an equal part of Sammy and Danielle’s life. He wants them to stay with him half of the time. I guess that’s good. But the kids are so upset.”

  “I’m sure it will be an adjustment for them,” I said. “But it will all smooth out over time.”

  “Do you think so?” Bitsy asked. I nodded.

  “Why did he leave?” I asked Bitsy, who had taken another bite of toast.

  “He said he didn’t want to be married anymore. It’s killing his soul, he said. And I said how do you think it’s killing my soul to take care of these children all day, carting them to school and all over town for extracurricular activities? Picking up dirty laundry all day? Washing dishes? It’s killing my soul too, but I do it for our family.”

  She put the piece of toast on the plate and started to cry.

  “Do you think there’s someone else?” I asked, not unkindly.

  “I asked him that and he denied it. But I’m still suspicious of it. Do you think I should get a private detective to follow him around?”

  “If that would make you feel better,” I said. Actually, I was all about Bitsy doing that. I wished I had done that. Then maybe I wouldn’t have been so blindsided. I might have had time to repair my marriage before Jim crossed the line so egregiously that repair was impossible.

  “My sister knows someone who used a detective. She said she’d call him for me. I’m thinking I need to get all the ammunition that I can.”

  “Do what feels right,” I said. I really didn’t want to get involved with Bitsy’s divorce since Jim and Sam were partners. I wanted to stay out of it.

  Bitsy stood to leave. She grabbed her purse from the back of the chair and put it on her shoulder.

  “Thank you, Amy. You’ve helped me clarify some things. I know I’ve got to deal with it. I hope I come out as good as you have.”<
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  “I’ve lost my husband and all my friends,” I said. “But if that sounds good to you. . . .”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Bitsy said. “I just meant that you’re doing all right financially. And thank God you don’t have kids to deal with.”

  “I’ll give you that,” I said. “Thank God there are no kids.” But I knew that was one of the things that made me the loneliest.

  I walked Bitsy to the door and watched her back her car out of the long driveway. I had not offered her much support. I had not asked her to call me if she needed to talk. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. I felt terrible for her and the kids. I hoped that Sam wasn’t having an affair. I hoped that he came to his senses about his marriage and his family. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  Over the next two weeks, while my contract was being hammered out, I shopped for new clothes. When I walked back into my old stomping grounds, I wanted to look my best every single day.

  I shopped at boutiques downtown, buying expensive suits with both skirts and pants. I bought new bras and underwear. I spent two hours in a shoe store, buying eight pairs of designer shoes in black, taupe, gray, tan, cream, and some popping colors like aqua and magenta. I spotted a pair of brown leather boots with three-inch heels on the way out of the shoe store and bought them, too. At another trendy boutique with more casual clothes, I purchased three pairs of size eight Levi’s jeans and eleven tops of earthy colors. I threw in a fitted jean jacket that I’d always envisioned myself wearing.

  I was deliriously happy that I was wearing size eight again—of course I was— but that had not been my goal. I actually had not had a goal. The weight had started dropping off, discarding itself as no longer necessary. I would have been happy at a larger size, but my body decided for me. It got back to normal, which was size eight, the size I had worn my entire teenage and adult life until I started gaining weight. Since I’d thrown my scales away, I had no idea how much I weighed, and I didn’t want to know. I was letting my body be my natural guide.

  After my clothes-buying frenzy, I stopped by the mall and visited the make-up counter for blush and eye shadow, lipstick and fingernail polish. When October 28th rolled around, I would be ready.