"The speeches take nearly two hours," she observed, scanning the program. "Do we really need that many?"
"Tradition," Ethan said. "The board chairman, the regional directors, the investor representative, you, and usually a video about quarterly performance."
"People work all year and we invite them to spend their evening listening to senior management congratulate itself."
Ethan hesitated. "I would never phrase it that way in an email."
"Neither would I. Not anymore." She marked several sections of the program. "Keep the employee recognition. Let the regional teams submit short stories about work they're proud of, and give the production and delivery teams a voice. Cut the investor video; the investors already know how to read a report."
He made notes, then looked up. "Do you want to bring a guest?"
Victoria felt herself becoming unexpectedly careful. "I might."
Ethan raised an eyebrow, but she waved him toward the door before he could ask more. She knew whom she wanted beside her, and she knew equally well that Daniel might dislike everything about an evening surrounded by investors and polished executives. She would ask, but she would not arrange it for him. The difference mattered now.
That afternoon she found Daniel helping a neighbor transport a repaired bookcase into a small apartment. He carried the bottom while a younger man held the top, guiding the piece carefully through a doorway so narrow that Victoria worried it would never fit. Daniel adjusted the angle with the patient concentration of someone who had learned how to solve a difficult problem without blaming the person standing beside him. When the bookcase finally settled against the wall, the young man's mother thanked them three times and offered money Daniel refused because the repair had been part of a community project already covered by donations.
Outside, Victoria waited until he finished loading the straps into the truck. "Can I ask you something?"
"You can always ask. Doesn't mean you'll like the answer."
"Sterling Living has its annual celebration next month. I'd like you to come with me. Not as a consultant, not to meet investors, and certainly not to impress anyone. Just as my guest."
Daniel leaned against the truck. "A room full of people discussing acquisition strategy while I wonder whether the furniture needs tightening?"
"Some of the furniture probably will," she admitted. "And I promise you won't be required to discuss acquisitions."
"Why would you want me there?"
Victoria looked at him. Her instinct was to give a polished answer about enjoying his company, one that revealed nothing he could use to understand how vulnerable the invitation felt. She set that answer aside. "Because the evenings that matter to me now are the ones you are part of. And because I'd like the people I work with to meet someone who has helped me remember what those people are worth."
Daniel lowered his eyes, thoughtful. "That sounds like a great deal of pressure for a man who owns one decent jacket."
"Wear it. I'll wear a dress that costs too much, and we'll both survive."