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In that sense, having someone British like Kit to help with the interior design of the cabins was smart. She knew a lot of the European countries. At least, Sarai had been impressed enough that she did.
Of course, time would tell if it was actually good enough. But I pushed those thoughts aside as we walked to the site office to let everyone on site know we were there. As we walked through the parking lot, I tried to see if there were any unfamiliar cars around.
“Looking out for her car?” Henry asked, picking up on me being distracted when I almost tripped over the curb to get onto the walkway.
Although I wanted to deny it, I was sure my reaction gave it away.
“She’s not got one here, I don’t think. Sarai said something about having a driver for her.”
It was a good point. If there was a driver, she’d be using one of the cars that Sarai or Richard drove often. I had no hope of figuring out whether she was here based on what cars were in the parking lot. Not unless there were three of the cars Sarai and Richard owned. But it was rare to have both of them on-site at once. All three of them would be even more unlikely.
I was on my own in trying to figure out if I would run into Kit. Still, I couldn’t help but look now that I knew what I was trying to spot. There was nothing to indicate she was here at all, however.
Finally letting go of the fear, anxiety, and the hope that I would see her, I focused on why I was here. There were tweaks to some of the designs to make sure they worked with everything we had learned. I had also shifted into a sort of project manager role to make sure the building team was creating the structures I had envisioned.
With any build, there were always a few changes based on budget differences, materials available, and misunderstandings about what was possible. It was never exactly the same, and I’d come to expect that. But I definitely wasn’t allowing it to deviate more than it had to or the circumstances allowed.
The door to the site office was ajar and I knocked on the edge as I walked in. As expected, Sarai was there, but Richard wasn’t. There was also the site foreman, and they were looking over some of the plans I made.
“Need any help?” I asked as I walked over. Henry trailed behind, knowing to leave me to it unless I asked for help or asked him to handle something for me. For the most part, he was here with me for this project to learn as much as possible.
“Lukas!” Sarai exclaimed. “Perfect timing. You have no idea how much we need you right now. We’ve had some problems with the delivery of a few materials we need. We’ve had enough to build this far, but the supplier has run out and won’t get anymore for two weeks. We need to know what changes we can make to stay on schedule and would appreciate your input so we don’t ruin the overall plan.”
I nodded, knowing this was one of the harder things to do—juggle what the foreman would want, the client, and what was best from the viewpoint of the original goal. The trick was helping everyone want the same thing, but for that, I had to know our best option.
“Tell me everything,” I said as I walked up, my focus on Sarai for now. She would give me the best indication of what was upsetting her, and then I could work with the foreman to get it for her.
I’d already gotten the impression that Sarai wanted to keep this on target if she could, but not at the expense of the overall project. The ideal here would be to find a compromise.
We talked for a long time, both of them telling me where they’d gotten to and speaking amicably enough. Henry also listened alongside me after getting us all tea and coffee and pulling up several chairs. I wasn’t the sort to send my PA to get drinks, but Henry knew that this was something he couldn’t contribute to as well.
Still, I included him where I could, making sure he didn’t feel ignored. I even got him to do some research for me as we went through possible options.
In the end, we had three options. One of them was to wait for the materials that were in the original design. And I knew it was unlikely that anyone would select this option. Sarai had left some room in her schedule before her first guests would stay on-site, but this would eat all that and give her no room for anything else to go wrong.
That didn’t make it an easy decision, however. The alternatives had downsides. One was to bring the material in from a much more expensive supplier in another country,something that would make a big difference to the project’s overall cost, and the final one was a bit of a compromise. More money and a shorter delay, but also a different result.
Of course, I understood that if money were no object, that would be chosen, and if time were no problem, we would all wait. But it wasn’t that simple. And the final decision was Sarai’s to make alone. I didn’t envy her, and I knew this was a decision I couldn’t steer. It was too big a change.
I sat back with my coffee to just listen as she tried to process the information and figure it out. Thankfully the foreman did something similar, not pressuring her for one answer over another. Henry handed her the sheet of paper where he had crunched the numbers for her and also stayed out of it.
She was still trying to decide five minutes later, exchanging messages with Richard about it, when there was a knock at the site office door. We all turned to see who it might be, and my heart stopped. Kit was hurrying in, a box tucked under her arm.
“Sarai, are you here?” Kit called before she was even properly in the door, looking around. She paused as well, almost dropping the box and having to brace it and bring her other arm around to stop it from hitting the floor.
The resultant position was clearly awkward, the box stopped by one leg and her arms. It looked heavy, but before I could do anything but stare, Henry leaped up to go and help her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Kit
My body wouldn’t move, the heavy box I was carrying pinned between my arms and one of my legs. Even if I could have moved, I wasn’t sure I would have dared. Any slight movement could see the box and its contents on the ground.
It was breakable, an exciting purchase I had hoped to show Sarai. She sat at the table in front of me, exactly where I had expected to find her, but she wasn’t the only one here.
Lukas was here. And there was another guy with him. The other guy slapped a phone on the table and rushed toward me to help. As my cheeks flushed, I let the guy rescue me and take the box. As it shifted, there was the tinkle of glass on the inside. It was gently wrapped but not so carefully that some of the contents couldn’t rattle slightly against each other.
“By the sounds of it, you wouldn’t have wanted to drop this.” The guy shifted to the nearest flat surface and put it down for me. I followed him, not sure what else to do. I could feel Lukas staring at me, and I knew he hadn’t looked away.
