Some messages are longer than they look.

“We need to talk.”

It doesn’t matter whether they come from your spouse, your boss, your doctor, or your child’s teacher. The words themselves aren’t the problem. It’s everything that happens after you hear them.

David had just finished a meeting when his phone buzzed.

“Hey David. Can you stop by my office around 3:00 pm? We need to talk.”

There was no explanation. No context. Just a meeting and a time.

Normally, David wasn’t the type to get rattled. News was part of the job. Markets could turn in minutes, clients could lose millions before lunch, and somehow he was usually one of the calmest people in the room.

At 11:07 am, his phone buzzed. By 11:10 am, he was replaying the previous month in his head.

Did I miss something? Was that client complaint bigger than they let on? Was I too direct in last week’s meeting? Did they decide to eliminate my position?

By 11:45 am, David had quietly become the prosecutor in his own trial. Every missed email became Exhibit A. Every awkward meeting became Exhibit B. Before long, the evidence was piling up.

By lunchtime, David had already searched for jobs twice. He pulled up his résumé and stared at the date at the top. Three years. He changed a few bullet points, fixed an old typo he’d never noticed before, and hit save. A few minutes later, he messaged a recruiter who’d reached out months earlier.

“Hey, just wanted to see if you’re still working with traders.”

He stared at the message for a second before hitting send.

Five minutes later, the recruiter replied.

“Funny you reached out. I was actually thinking about you last week.”

Around 2:00 pm, he texted his wife.

“Maybe we should just stay in town this summer.”

She replied almost immediately.

“Why?”

David read the message, locked his phone, and slid it back into his pocket. 

David stopped by the break room to refill a cup that didn’t need refilling. On the way back, he stuck his head into accounting, asked someone how their weekend was, and checked the time again.

At exactly 3:00 pm, he knocked on his boss’s door.

“Come in,” his boss said. “Close the door.”

David sat down.

His boss leaned back in his chair.

“I’ve been thinking about putting you in charge of the new regional expansion.”

David blinked.

“I’m sorry… what?”

His boss smiled.

“You thought this meeting was about something else, didn’t you?”

David laughed.

“Wasn’t expecting that.”

On the drive home, his phone buzzed at the red light. He finally got home and sat down for dinner. His wife looked up.

“How’d it go?”

“I got the promotion.”

His wife smiled.

“I had a feeling.”

A few minutes later, she picked up her phone.

“That’s strange.”

David looked up.

“Everything okay?”

“David, did you cancel our trip?”

About the Author

Brian B. Turner is an entrepreneur, author, and creator of the DON’T FOLD series. His work explores discipline, resilience, faith, business, relationships, and the decisions people make when life gets volatile.

Brian is the author of Don’t Fold: Mental Discipline for Volatile Seasons.

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