I stared at my wall for a moment.
“Owen needs to know the actual version,” I said.
“I think Owen is figuring it out,” Becca said. “He’s smart. He asks questions.”
I thanked her for calling. She said she hoped we could figure it out. She sounded like someone who was going to have a very long few weeks.
After I hung up, I wrote a brief, careful email to Owen. I did not want to seem like I was lobbying him or creating a coalition against Claire. I simply attached the PDF of the Willowmere contract, with the relevant clauses highlighted, and a copy of the receipt for the twenty-four hundred dollar deposit, and the text thread between Claire and me in which she had told me not to come, and I wrote a single paragraph: “I wanted to make sure you have the actual documentation in case it’s useful for your conversations. I’m not asking you to take sides. I just thought you should have the facts.”
He read it. I know because he replied: “Thank you. This is helpful.”
## Jordan Ellis Weighs In
Two weeks after my first call with Jordan, she sent me an email. It was professional and precise, as everything Jordan did was professional and precise, and it contained the following relevant information: she had reached out to Claire twice and to the email address I had provided for Owen, and had not received a confirmed agreement to take over the client contract. The thirty-day window before the event was now three weeks away. She needed to know the plan for the remaining payment by the following Friday, or the original client contract — mine — would govern, and the payment schedule in that contract would apply.