Leigh

When I took on Stafford Oil, the place was staffed the way you'd expect a company to be staffed when the founder dies and the son inherits before he's ready: out of date, overpaid in the wrong places, underqualified in the right ones. Leigh fixed that. She came in, assessed what Michael actually needed, and within a few weeks I had a bench of people I could work with. She is very, very good at what she does.

She also broke up with Miles around this time, which complicated things. Six years is too long to be together and not get engaged — that part I understood. But Miles didn't want to marry her, and there's usually a reason for that, and I didn't think it was my place to pretend otherwise. What I could do was call Erica and get Leigh somewhere to land while she sorted herself out, so I did that.

She turned down the HR director role at Stafford — smart call, honestly — and said she'd rather stay a consultant. I respect that. She knows what she's good at and she's not going to let a flattering title talk her out of it.

I like talking to Leigh. She's sharp, she's direct, and she doesn't need anything from me other than the professional arrangement we already have, which suits me fine. Whatever anyone else might think they're reading in that — they're not reading it right.

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