But then Paula told herself that she might be imagining things and over-analyzing as usual, though her grandfather considered that a strength. Paula loved analysis, to take in information, process it, and consider a solution or to dream about possibilities. She’d had a few ideas over the years that she’d tentatively presented to her grandfather, always wondering if she might be dreaming too big, and her ideas were too silly and far-fetched. But her grandfather had always listened and seriously considered them. He didn’t take every suggestion, but he liked some of them and was impressed when they implemented her ideas and they were successful. And he always encouraged her to ‘keep them coming’.

So, to Paula, she really had her dream job. She liked being invisible, behind the scenes, but still doing work that mattered. And even though her grandfather was almost eighty, he was still so smart and full of energy. In addition to The Whitley, he also had other related business holdings in Boston and New York. There was a company that made linens specifically for the hotel industry and another company that rented them. In addition, he owned office buildings in both Boston and New York and had many tenants in both cities. He’d built quite an empire—and over the years, Paula had taken on overseeing the financials for all of it. Not the day-to-day accounting, but each month, a detailed report was sent to her from each business and she analyzed and summarized it for her grandfather.

Still, as she looked around, Paula was surprised that Andrea wasn’t there. She usually loved these kinds of events. She loved mingling with the guests and having everyone know that she was a Whitley and as general manager, that she was in charge. She treated Paula somewhat dismissively as if she was just a back-office AP clerk and she herself was miles above her. Paula had never been impressed by titles and she’d never aspired to a role like Andrea’s. It was too visible, and Paula had never craved the need to be ‘in charge’. She was very happy in her role. So, she always wondered what Andrea’s problem was.

But then she considered that Andrea had always liked to try and push Paula around. They were the same age and should have been best friends, but instead, Andrea was a bit of a bully at times. For some reason that Paula could never quite understand, she’d bounced back and forth from being a fun friend to seemingly jealous over an imagined slight. It grew to be exhausting and in high school, Paula finally had enough and pulled back from having much to do with Andrea aside from family gatherings where she had no choice.