“Can you pour me some coffee?” Christy asked.
“My pleasure,” Michael said, refilling her cup. Christy and Michael were being lazy. Instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to hear the much-anticipated speech on Shifting U.S.–Asian Alliances, the newlyweds got caught up in their own romantic alliance. Michael was an amorous spouse, and Christy was delighted by his need for her. They were cuddling in bed over breakfast, sharing the papers that had been delivered on a silver tray.
“You know,” Michael said, buttering his croissant, “seeing Fran and Brownie last night made me so glad I gave up that life, not that I ever cheated on Suzanne.”
Christy stiffened. She had never told him about herself and Fran. When she and Michael were first married, they decided not to drag each other through blow-by-blows of their pasts. “I guess he has a reputation for running around, huh?” Christy said.
“He does. Maybe you can’t blame him. It’s obvious he and Brownie don’t care for each other. I was willing to settle for that once. After Suzanna, I promised myself I wouldn’t date anyone I cared about and wouldn’t care about anyone I dated. But now that I have you, I see how wrong I was.”
Christy smiled and nuzzled closer to Michael. “I love you so much,” she said.
“Me, too, Beegee,” Michael said. “I just want to make you happy.”
“You do,” Christy said with a sexy smile. “In fact, after breakfast, maybe you can make me happy again.”
Michael laughed. “I’ll give you the front page for the Finance section.” They exchanged papers and read quietly for a few minutes.
“Oh my God!” Christy said, spilling coffee on the bed. “Look. How could you miss this article?” She handed Michael the paper and pointed furiously at the headline:
CHRISTY HAYES’S LEADERSHIP LAPSE
by Galit Portal
In the fifteen years since Christy Hayes founded Baby G Sports, the company has expanded from three employees to four thousand, with profits of $50 million. Three years ago she led the company to a hugely successful public offering underwritten by Goldman Sachs. Still, inside sources report that last week, Baby G’s board of directors issued an ultimatum to Ms. Hayes: Run the company under the supervision of Hamish Cohen, Managing Partner of Bain Consulting, or step down and allow a more seasoned CEO to take over. Sources say board members believe the company has become too complex to be managed by a leader who hails from the athletic world and who does not have an MBA. In setting this condition, the board cited the stock’s lackluster performance in the last two years, which has dropped from $42/share the day of the public offering to $26/share. This is an average percentile loss for businesses in the sector, which has suffered an industry-wide downturn. For Ms. Hayes, this event represents the stiffest challenge yet to a career that was launched on the coattails of two Olympic gold medals. While this reporter tried to reach Ms. Hayes, she is out of the country at a conference and unavailable for comment…
Christy felt sick to her stomach. “Michael, none of this is true. I met with the board before we left. Everything was fine. The stock’s down, yes, but sales and profits are up. How can they print something like this without verifying it?”
“Are you sure they didn’t decide it after you left? Could they be planning to issue an ultimatum when you get back?” Michael was as surprised as Christy, but he’d learned to expect the worst.
“I can’t imagine. We talked about increasing my incentive package. Why would they consider that if they were questioning my leadership? Look who wrote it—Galit Portal. Isn’t she at the conference?”
“I haven’t seen her. She didn’t write a bestseller this year. Maybe she didn’t make the list.”
“They do that? They cut people off the list?”
“Sure. I heard Teddy Bartlett wasn’t invited the year they indicted him.” Michael grabbed his Davos BlackBerry and scanned for Galit’s photo. “Wait, no, she’s here,” he said.
“Oh God, last year, Galit snubbed me at the closing party. I don’t know what I did to offend her.”
“Christy, just stay here and relax. Let me go find out why she wrote the story. Then I’ll beat her up, okay?”
“No, you can’t fight my battles.” Secretly, she wished he could. “I’ll track her down.”
“We’ll go together,” Michael said.
Meet Galit
Michael and Christy decided to catch Galit by surprise. They walked over to the conference center and took the escalator down to the hospitality area where delegates gathered between sessions. Christy’s face burned as she felt all eyes upon her. There were stacks of free Financial Journals throughout the building. Everyone knew. It was humiliating to be the subject of such damaging press in front of this of all groups. Michael put his arm around her as if to dare anyone to say anything. She glanced at him. He looked more disheveled than usual. His hair was wild, completely negating his finely tailored suit. His shirt looked like it had spent all night on the bathroom floor. That always happened when he was under stress. She found it endearing.
“I love you,” she said.
“Love you more.” He smiled.
They spotted Galit at the same time. There was no missing her. That long black hair topping the oh-so-perfect size-two body. She was wearing the same Marc Jacobs leather miniskirt that Christy owned. How
