Page 88 of Beastly Mountain Man

“Anything catastrophic? Anything I would’ve prevented?”

“Nothing catastrophic. You probably would’ve prevented something.”

That answer surprised me.

Glenn went on.

“And something else would’ve happened while you were busy preventing that. The goal is not a perfect universe. The goal is a production staffed well enough to absorb normal problems without one person becoming the emergency department.”

I looked down at the floor.

“I’ve been making it harder.”

“At times, yes.”

There was no pleasure or accusation in his answer, just Glenn telling me the truth the same way he would tell me an exterior location had bad sound or the schedule needed another half day.

“I’m sorry. I mean it.”

“I know.”

Bear barked faintly somewhere outside.

I looked toward the door.

“I’ll come back.”

“Good.”

“But I’m not coming back to the way I was doing it.”

Glenn was quiet.

I kept going.

“I don’t mean I’m stepping back from the job. I’m not. I want the job. I want the responsibility that is actually mine.”

“All right.”

“The department heads keep the authority they’ve been using while I’m gone. The other producers don’t hand everything back to me because I walked through the door. If we’re changing something major, I need to know. If a decision affects multiple departments, bring me in. But I can’t keep treating every unresolved detail like a personal summons.”

A moment passed.

Then Glenn said, “Good.”

I blinked. “That’s it? I was expecting a negotiation.”

“We’ll negotiate plenty when you’re back.”

The dry familiarity in his voice made me smile.

“But I wasn’t planning to put you back into the same pattern,” he continued. “It wasn’t working. We can talk about coverage, authority, and how we structure the rest of the production when the immediate situation is stable.”

“Not now?”

“You’re still snowed in.”

“Technically.”