Some Day You Will Ache Like I Ache

Shannon’s Story – Part XIII

Part XIII of a series written from my wife’s perception of our life together.  Part I of Shannon's story is here.

Shannon speaking......

I couldn't believe that I was allowing myself to be mad at Brent for his behavior.  But then again I couldn't believe I allowed myself to feel for him so deeply.  I hate when people use that term "soul mates" but I really thought we were connected in a very close way.  I guess looking back I was just another one of his conquests.

I think what made me even more angry was the brazen way that he seemed to either shove it in my face or simply think I was stupid enough to not notice.  Or could it be even worse, that he just didn't care what I thought.

I'm rambling now so let me get back and explain the story.

Allegra was a new manager at one of Brent's accounts.  I had been to the account and I will say she was OK, and I'll stop there.  But to Brent she could do no wrong, she was going places.  He even approached me to "mentor" her as a female leader within the company.  Apparently she was interested in marketing as well and wanted to work with me.  He brought her to and included her in a lot of high level meetings you would never expect someone of her level to attend.  He said he was just putting her on the "fast track" and helping her network.  But why would a VP be so interested in a new entry level manager, he had over 80 accounts what is his interest in one manager at one account that wasn't even close to being his biggest.

But how did I figure this out?  As I said earlier Allegra "friended" me on Facebook.  Later, Brent (who vowed never to be on Facebook) finally relented and created a Facebook account.  He said he just wanted to keep an eye on his daughters.  But the idiot obviously never took the time to realize there is a BIG different between sending a message on Facebook and just posting to someone's wall.  Brent and Allegra started posting things on each other's walls that were very much less than professional.  I'll excuse Allegra, she was just a 20-something girl that didn't realize someone from the company might be looking; but Brent should have known better.  Another time Brent asked me as a favor to follow up and get tickets to a Colts game "for a client."  That was total bull because come the day of the game who just happens to post pics from the game - you got it Allegra!  Yep, they were screwing and I wasn't the only one that was starting to notice!

Of course, Brent and I were broken up so I wasn't supposed to be angry but I couldn't help feeling betrayed.  Brent was so understanding back in September when we broke things off.  Little did I know the reason that he didn't protest is that it conveniently got me out of the way for his new "booty call!"

But back east things were taking interesting turns.  For once Ryan startled me with a proposition.  In our little town a well known bakery was for sale.  Ryan knew the owners and had spoken informally with them.  I love to bake and have always wanted my own business.  So we started to seriously consider this as an option for me.  I would run the bakery and Ryan could handle the finances in addition to his current job.  We felt very confident.  Ryan along with an accountant friend ran the numbers and came up with pro forma P&L's, Ryan knew an appraiser in town very familiar with the property and got a good assessment of the property value, Ryan had a friend at the bank that was interested in writing the loan, he even knew the mayor and said due to zoning there was no chance that a Starbucks would ever move in so we felt really good about everything.  I started to mentally write the business plan and was excited!


Ryan got everything lined up and just before the holidays made an offer on the bakery and the property.  I was tingling, this would be the change I was dreaming of.


Of course the owners countered.  During the week between Christmas and New Year's Ryan continued to crunch numbers both for the business and personally, trying to figure out how much of a hit we could take on the personal side - I would surely not be making as much money running a new business.


We were scheduled to visit family during this week.  I went ahead with the girls and Ryan decided to stay behind to finish the deal if that opportunity presented itself.


So I drove away with a happy feeling and hope that I had not had in a long time.  I told him I trusted him and do what he thought was best.  Yes that may sound hypocritical of me but I'll say this; I may not trust Ryan's emotional intentions but when it comes to the almighty dollar I will put all my faith in him!  I won't exactly call him a tightwad but let's just say, as my aunt used to say, he is "very close with his money!"


About half way on my trip to see family I got a call on my Blackberry.  It was from the corporate offices so I answered.  It was Mr. V, the CEO of the company!  Now, I plan meetings so I have spoken to Mr. V many times over the years so it is not completely odd for him to call me.  But certainly it is very rare and I knew he wouldn't call me just to chat.  So as he was asking me "how are your holidays going," I was certainly wondering what was about to come my way.

Ryan's notes:  Wow, it's hard to believe I have written 13 of these posts.  At first I did one just to try it on for size.  I got a lot of responses and thought I might use it as a tool to crank out about 5 posts to retrace the history of our life together.  Quickly I realized 10 posts would be more realistic.  At 10, I was still going so I decided on a dozen and now I'm at a baker's dozen and I'm still not quite to the end.  But I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and I've already developed something else I want to take the place of my Shannon posts so I will finish soon.  Thanks for taking an interest in this.