The office is a welcome sight. My assistant, Rosalie, greets me warmly and compliments my hair, my natural highlights, and my tan. She gushes a little too much at how I look, and I’m forced to give her a cool look to get her to return to a professional manner.

The issues with the merger are nothing and could have been handled by anyone involved; there was no need for me to be here at all. The lawyers have handled almost everything, and the minor details are rectified in half a morning. I walk through to Jake’s office and dump the files on his desk; I like that they scatter...