Years ago, when she was young and hungry for success, right after passing the bar, she made many comments about how motherhood wasn’t her thing to whoever asked when she would settle down. Rennie never saw herself with a husband and 2.3 children. The white picket fence wasn’t her lifestyle. She wanted a high-rise in the city, the weekend gala fundraisers, and the one-night stands that weren’t awkward because both parties knew exactly what they needed from each other. Her passion for sitting in her oversize chair with a cup of coffee and a good book far outweighed any thoughts of dirty diapers and teething rings.
What she wanted now was a ring on her finger. She could still do without a child, but marriage was something she found she wanted ever since she met her boyfriend at a college fair in Spokane, Washington, over a year ago. Rennie was asked to fill in for a coworker and attend the recruiting session and speak to interested interns. Public speaking wasn’t her forte, but the thought of getting out of the office for a few days excited her. She never thought a trip across the state would be life changing, but this one was. The staff who had accompanied her to Spokane set up their booth in the convention center and joked with her about how nervous she was. They assured her everything would be fine and the speech she planned to give to prospective interns was spot on. Shortly after her speech, she spoke to the students who stopped by their booth. She handed out flyers containing details about their intern program, the housing they offered, and their hiring process. In the booth next to hers, Theo Wright recruited for a whole other field: forensic accounting. The two of them couldn’t have been more different career-wise, yet as the day wore on, they smiled at each other, gravitating toward one another and flirting. Casual conversation turned into drinks at the hotel bar, which turned into dinner the next night. Rennie’s staff would later comment on the subtle touches they witnessed her and Theo exchange and how each time they brought him up on the flight home, she would smile.
Theo and Rennie lived four hours apart by car—longer in the winter—and a little over an hour by plane. They often met in Ellensburg, which was halfway for both of them, or Theo would come to Seattle to visit. Rennie rarely went to Spokane, since Theo loved the nightlife in Seattle. The vibe was more his speed, as he always told her. Every other weekend they were together, either at her apartment, skiing in Canada, spending time in the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, or walking hand in hand along the boardwalk on Venice Beach when she would occasionally join him on a business trip to Los Angeles. They were in love. He talked about leaving his job or pushing his company to open a branch in Seattle so they could buy their dream home in the coveted Queen Anne neighborhood. They talked about their future, their desire to travel together to Italy and Greece, and she showed him a condo she wanted to buy in Portugal, giving them a place to escape to when their jobs became too much.
Her promotion changed her dreams, or maybe falling in love had done so. She wasn’t sure anymore. She loved her job. She loved Theo. But neither was meeting her halfway. He was demanding of her time, as was her job. With her new role, her responsibilities doubled. She now had lawyers under her, a full office staff, and interns. People depended on her more. When Theo was in town, she was in board meetings or going over briefings. Their normal weekends together turned into her spending hours researching, reading, and highlighting. Plans they had made before the promotion were tossed by the wayside and rescheduled for another date or, more aptly, “to be determined.”
She was driven to manage her ever-growing workload and get back on track with Theo, but it was the rumors that made everything worse and had her questioning whether the corner office, pay raise, and gold-plated nameplate were worth it. Of course, the sneers she’d get from her male counterparts who had not been promoted to her current position and the backhanded comments from other coworkers suggesting she was sleeping her way to the top weren’t helping. The fact that Theo declined her invite to the firm’s Thanksgiving party hadn’t squashed the gossip surrounding her. She depended on him to be there for her, to show everyone she was happy and in a healthy relationship—that she wasn’t taking part in extracurricular activities with the president of the company or any of its senior staff—and that she could have a career and be in a committed relationship.