Page 66 of Auctioned To Be Mine

I thought about the nights I’d spent with Victoria when I should have been reviewing the final construction signoffs.

Was that the problem? Had I been somewhere else when I should have been paying attention?

I told myself no. I hadn’t missed anything significant. I ran through the checklist in my head. Flooring, complete and signed off. Electrical, inspected and approved. Plumbing rough-in, done before the walls went up.

So what was it?

I didn’t know. And not knowing was the worst part because I was supposed to know everything. I was the one people called. I was the one who had the answer or found it fast enough that it didn’t matter. Callum Blackwell did not receive panicked phone calls from staff members. He was the one who prevented those calls from ever needing to happen.

And yet, here I was, racing to the store to address an emergency. I took the exit ramp and felt my jaw tighten. I wasn’t going to spiral. Whatever was waiting for me at the store, I would deal with it. One step at a time. That was the only way through anything. You didn’t solve a problem by freaking out. You assessed, then acted.

I could do that. I’d been doing that my entire adult life.

My obsession with Victoria wasn’t making me sloppy. Sure, I had been a little distracted, but she made me feel alive. I could date a girl and still do my job. Other people managed it every day. I was going to manage it too.

I pulled into the first available spot on the street. Lena, one of the project supervisors, met me at the front door. I could see the stress on her face.

“Show me,” I said.

She led me through the showroom and into the back corridor that connected the main floor to the alterations staging area. The back wall. Adrian had spent two weeks agonizing over the finish. A particular wood, in a specific shade with a grain pattern he’d chosen. Not too dark, not too light. Every detail in the store was chosen for a reason.

But the panels were wrong. It wasn’t even the correct type of wood. It looked like someone had pulled material from a completely different order and put it on my wall.

“Who signed off on the delivery?” I asked, even though I already knew.

She pulled out the invoice and handed it to me. My signature. Right there at the bottom of the delivery confirmation. I’d been distracted and hadn’t checked the materials when they were dropped off.

“How bad?” I asked.

“Structurally, it’s fine. It’s purely aesthetic, according to the contractor. If we pull it now, the supplier can send us the correct material and we can install it before the opening. It’ll cost us some time, but it’s more of an expensive mistake.”

“Do it,” I said. “Have it pulled today. Call the company and tell them to get it right this time.”

“Yes, sir.”

This was my fault. Mistakes were made all the time. It was up to me to catch those mistakes, but I had been distracted. I thanked Lena on the way out and told her to keep me updated on the reorder timeline. She nodded and was already on her phone before I reached the door.

I drove home and changed. Victoria was coming over soon. It was becoming our regular thing. We spent our evenings hanging out and eating. In my old life, I would spend the evenings at the table going over work—alone.

I ordered dinner. Victoria arrived at almost the same time as the food.

She took one look at me. “What happened?” she asked.

“Let’s eat. I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

She didn’t push. Simply nodded and helped set out the Mexican food I had ordered. She understood when to leave things alone. After three tacos and an unhealthy amount of guacamole, I told her what had me stressed out.

She listened without interrupting. “But it’s fixable,” she said when I was done, trying to reassure me.

I wiped my mouth. “The problem is that I was the one who signed off on it. I should have been paying attention. I’m supposed to confirm the order is right before I accept delivery.”

“Because you were distracted.”

“Yes,” I said.

She nodded slowly. “And now you’re trying to figure out if I’m the reason.”

“No. You’re not the reason. I’ve just been burning the candle at both ends.” I smiled at her. “If anything, you help me focus.”