Am I under the bus?

Am I under the bus? How can i improve upon our interaction or what adjustments make sense for the next time?

One if my projects is with an internal customer. Jack and his accountants hold the purse strings. My role is developing the budget, procuring the equipment, and running the construction phase.

Jack and his team are far higher in the organization than I am.

I took the lead role in writing in funding request; Jack and his accountants were secondary preparers. I built the spending the way our engineering requests are typically structured. Jack changed the line items and dollar amounts, but the bottom line was the same. I didn’t challenge him at that time figuring it’s his money to set up how he and his team prefer.

After the project and cash flow were approved, Jack’s account asked that I rearrange the line items to align with the assets to be depreciated, And Jack offered to walk me through his line item rationale, just give him a call.

Long story short, Jack was not available for a phone conversation. So, I emailed him an itemization proposal that would best support my future tasks: procuring equipment and managing the installation. I expected to talk with Jack about the dollars an line items, but that never came together. Admittedly, I expected that proposal to be immediately rejected, thinking there is no harm in asking. So I had a second in my back pocket. Jack didn’t provide feedback on my “selfish” one until I followed up with him later.

When finally speaking with Jack, he refused explain his earlier thinking. He said, “I have no recollection of any of that.” And, “This is your project.”

Am I already under the bus? What advice could you give to improve this particular situation and avoid something like this down the line?

Thank you FGB for your insight and wisdom.