The Northstar problem was worse than anyone admitted. Their campaign had lost focus. The numbers were slipping. The client felt ignored. Someone at Lennox & Vale had promised a fresh strategy but sent vague ideas instead. Claire could see the panic between the lines of every email. She did what she had always done. She cleaned up the mess.
For ten days, she studied the reports, rebuilt the proposal, and wrote a new client-retention plan that made the agency contact reply with three exclamation points. Vivian Harlow herself joined the final video call, though Claire kept her camera off. Vivian praised “C. Ellison” for cutting through months of confusion in a single document.
Claire did not tell Darren. She wanted to, at first. She imagined him being proud. Then he came home complaining that “some outside consultant” was making everyone look bad by fixing the Northstar problem too quickly. “She’s probably one of those overpaid freelancers,” he muttered. Claire looked at the dinner she had kept warm for him and closed her mouth. Some truths, she was learning, were safer when held quietly.