All Chapters of Divorced, Now Watch Me Rise!: Chapter 251 - Chapter 259

CLAIRE Three months, that's how long it took to go from ashes to this. I stood outside the new facility on a Tuesday morning in early spring.Dumbo, Brooklyn. Three blocks from the waterfront, the building was exactly what I'd imagined standing on that pavement in Sunset Park watching everything burn.Brick exterior warm in the morning light, corner windows on two sides catching the sky, a proper entrance with the CLAIRE logo etched into the glass beside the door.Nina appeared beside me, she looked at the building the way you look at something you've worked toward for a long time, with the particular satisfaction of someone who knows exactly what it cost."It's really something," she said quietly."It really is," I agreed.The team started arriving at nine. Maria first, as always, she came down the street with her sister Elena, both of them stopping when they saw the building properly for the first time.Maria put her hand over her mouth briefly, just for a second, then she straight

JULIANDAYS LATER I woke up before six and found Claire still asleep beside me. I gently left the bed and went to take my bath and get ready for work.Today was my last day as CEO of Cross Industries. I had said I wouldn't manage it forever and that time had come today, we'd already hired a new CEO and I'd be the chairman going forward.Serena Holloway, the board had unanimously supported the decision.David had overseen the search process, three months of reviewing candidates, interviewing finalists, making sure we found someone who understood not just the business but the people inside it.Serena was the right choice. I knew it the moment I sat across from her in the first interview, she had the kind of clarity that didn't need to announce itself.Just sat there quietly and made everything around it more organized. Cross Industries would be fine, better than fine.I stood at the bathroom mirror getting ready and thought about the first morning I'd walked into that building as inter

CLAIRE DAYS LATER I pushed open the apartment door a little after eight, my feet aching from a long day at the studio. The launch of CLAIRE Studio had gone well, but the follow-up work was nonstop, emails, meetings with retailers, final checks on production. I was tired, but happy.The lights in the living room were low. I kicked off my shoes and walked quietly down the hall. Julian’s home office door was slightly open. Soft light spilled out into the hallway. I peeked inside.He was still at his desk, focused on his laptop, his jacket was off, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hair a little messy from running his fingers through it. Papers and two monitors showed charts and numbers. Since stepping down as CEO of Cross Industries, he had thrown himself into his own investments and new projects. He worked hard, but I could see the difference, this work excited him more.I leaned against the doorframe and watched him for a moment. He looked handsome and focused, but I also saw the ten

CLAIRE Julian and I had talked about travelling together a long time ago, him mentioning it almost casually one evening on the couch.*Once things settle down, I want to take you with me when I travel for work. London. Tokyo. Singapore. I don't want to do any of it alone anymore.*I'd smiled and said I'd like that, and then everything happened and Tokyo became something said in a different lifetime.But Julian hadn't forgotten, three weeks after his last day as CEO, he came home and set two plane tickets on the kitchen counter without saying anything.Tokyo, departing Friday. I looked at the tickets then at him. "You remembered," I said."I always remembered," he replied. "We just had to get here first."Getting here had taken everything we had, but we'd gotten here, the flight was fourteen hours.We flew business class because Julian refused to discuss any other option.Wide seats, good food, the kind of quiet that only exists at cruising altitude when the rest of the world is compl

CLAIREI'd been feeling different for about two weeks, tiredness that didn't match how much I was sleeping, the coffee Julian made every morning suddenly smelling different in a way I couldn't explain.A sensitivity that sat just below the surface of everything. I bought the test on a Wednesday and I put it in my bag and brought it home and put it in the bathroom cabinet, and then I didn't touch it for four days, just knowing it was there was enough for now.On Sunday morning Julian left early to meet David, he kissed my forehead at the door. "Back by noon," he said."Okay," I replied.I listened to the door close, lay there in the quiet for a while, then I got up, made tea instead of coffee because coffee still wasn't sitting right.Stood at the kitchen window drinking it slowly, looking at nothing in particular. When I finished I set the cup down in the sink, and stood there for a moment with my hands on the edge of the counter.Then I went to the bathroom, the test was exactly wher