I said, “What would that look like, practically?”
He said something about a few hours a week, working with Luke on the remediation plan, maybe attending the service review with him.
I said, “Is this a paid arrangement?”
A pause that was smaller than the earlier one. “We’d work something out.”
“Dad,” I said, and then I took a breath, because I was about to say something I had rehearsed because I had known this call was coming and I had wanted to say it correctly. “What you’re describing is operations management consulting. That’s a real service with a real market rate. If Morgan Freight wants to hire a consultant to stabilize the Alder account and develop a transition plan, I can give you a rate and we can discuss the scope.”
“Grace –“
“I’m not being difficult. I’m describing what this actually is. When you asked me to hand over my work four weeks ago, it had value. The value didn’t disappear when I stopped being an employee. If you need that value back, temporarily, the arrangement is professional and compensated.”
A longer silence.
“I understand,” he said. “That’s fair.”
I said I’d send him a scope and rate by end of week.
He said he’d look at it.
What I did not say, but what was also true: I had a recruiter call with Pinnacle Logistics the following morning, and I was cautious about what a short-term Morgan consulting arrangement might do to my timeline or my professional availability. I did not tell him this.