With a tug at my cuffs, I take in every eye.
“Ladies,” I nod at the two sisters who are basically heiresses of the gold rush. Old money passed down from early railroad times. Lola, the older sister, gives me a wink. Her lilac hair is done up in a tight bun on the top of her head. If anyone is most like a loving grandma, it’s going to be Lola. I face the men. “Gentlemen.”
“Mr. Huntington,” Dean says dryly.
The man is sagging skin on bones. I have a great deal of respect for the elders in my life. A lesson my mom pounded into my head when her parents lived with us until they both passed.
Dean is eighty-nine and works like he’s forty-five without progressing his mind to a modern era. He can hardly stomach the fact that Lola and her sister have equal say on what goes on at Burton Field, or that Dallas put his sister in as an equal partner, a thing the late Mr. Anderson would’ve never done.
I take a seat in one of the padded office chairs and keep my expression impassive. “I hear there is a delay on the project.”
“There is.” Dallas sits next to me. “I’m afraid Haven has decided to cancel the contract.”
“What?” I sit straighter. “Why?”
If I believed in fate, I’d think it was bound to toss me back into Ava’s path after I talked with Griffin and he admitted he found the designers for his house because I’d hired the same company to work on the field house.
Like I said, it’s almost like I was bound to stumble right in Ava’s path no matter what.
Haven Aesthetic Architecture was the firm I’d hired to complete the interior of the Youth Field House. I’d been unsettled when I found out Ava worked for them, but buried the issue through logic and a solid plan already in place long before last week’s disaster.
Eventually, I accepted I could work with the same firm because I’d neverreallyinteract with the designers anyway.
But if they bail now, the field house will remain drywall and empty rooms.
It’ll be delayed from opening. It’ll change everything.
Already the disquiet from an abrupt shift in plans, in a carefully thought-out schedule, tightens in my gut.
“I’m afraid there was a more lucrative, time sensitive offer made,” Dallas says. “Sea Wing Hotel chain is opening a new building in Henderson.”
I don’t care about a hotel.
“And,” Dean goes on, “after the debacle the other night, they felt working with us now would not be in their best interest.”
My chest gets tight, like a fist curls around my lungs. “I explained the situation.”
“Carina Haven doesn’t seem to care, sweetheart,” Lola says. I assume she’s trying to be sympathetic, but at least her voice is calmer than Dean.
“So we find a new designer.” I ignore how Ava’s face flashes in my head. She works for Haven, so I guess that gets rid of my fear of crashing into her again on the jobsite. Right?
I don’t know why the thought of finding anyone else all at once feels like another betrayal at her expense. It’s not. We don’t owe each other anything.
Dean snorts his disgust. “And go through price negotiations again? No.”
“I wasn’t asking, sir.” I grind my teeth for a few breaths, opting for logic. He’ll respond to logic, surely. “I am the largest investor in this project—”
“But the name of Burton Field is on it,” Dean snaps back.
I was wrong. He’s not using logic; he wants to reclaim his power.
“You gave the money, but the organization will see it through for decades to come,” Dean says. “Long after your retirement, Mr. Huntington.”
I have no plans to retire. Not anytime soon, anyway.
“I’m sorry, Ryder,” Dallas says. “I know you wanted to see this done before next season.”
“There is a wait-list of kids,” I say, voice rough. “Kids that expected to enroll next spring. Dallas, some don’t have years.”
