“Sounds like a decent reason for leaving a place of work. I approve.”
“Not that you had any say in it to begin with,” I said, grinning.
“What time’s your meeting?” he asked.
“In about an hour. I’m going to run down food before I head that way.”
“Well, give Hailey my love. I’ll definitely scoot by for breakfast soon.”
“If you want to see her, you’ll have to get there around seven,” I said.
“I’ll definitely scoot by for dinner on my day off sometime soon,” he said, chuckling.
I clapped Drew on the back before he took on his next client. My stomach was rumbling with hunger, and I had thirty minutes to track down food before I had to go sit down with Ellen. I wasn't quite sure what she wanted to discuss, so I tried to brace myself for everything. New projects that needed to be approved, old projects that needed more coordination, last-minute meetings that made it onto the schedule. I walked into the meeting with my mind set on working the rest of the day, but I was pleasantly surprised as to the topic of conversation that was being focused on.
“The efficiency of this foundation has improved by eighty percent, and that’s with you being overseas,” she said.
“Well, I’m glad things are going well. I tried to take on all I could while I was touring,” I said.
“The fundraising efforts you initiated were beyond successful, and the new method of money dispersal is a hit with everyone. You’ve really proven yourself, Bryan.”
“I’m glad I can help. I’m excited about getting in here tomorrow and having a regular presence.”
“And we’re ready to have you. How did Hailey’s tour go?”
“Better than we could’ve ever expected. We were able to pay off the loans she still had out on her gallery as well as invest in our baby’s college fund. I’ve been told it’s never too early to start one of those.”
“Oh, how is she doing with the baby? She’s, what? Six months along?”
“Seven,” I said. “And it’s going. She’s hit that stage where she’s done being pregnant, and she isn’t feeling herself anymore.”
“Struggling with how her body is changing?” she asked.
“In part, yeah.”
“Well, a woman’s body changes a great deal when she’s pregnant, but it’s nothing to be concerned about. Plus, she’s a lucky woman to be carrying your child. I have to say, I’m a bit jealous.”
“What?” I asked.
“You heard me,” she said, grinning.
Her comment had me on high alert. When I had taken this job at the foundation, I’d made it clear to her I had no sexual interest in her. I’d made it clear that I was in love with Hailey and had even made it a point to call her and announce both our pregnancy and our engagement when Hailey agreed to marry me. I had yet to be in the office full-time with her, even though I was working for the foundation around-the-clock, but I figured this misunderstanding between us had fallen by the wayside.
But her comment was making me insecure about this job again, and I wasn't sure what to think of it.
Had my comment about Hailey's struggles opened some sort of door for her? Was that something I shouldn’t have mentioned? I didn't think anything of it while we were talking. She was only asking how Hailey was doing. I figured she was taking an interest in my home life since the foundation seemed to operate as a massive family.
But now I was beginning to question her motives for hiring me and asking how Hailey was doing in the first place.
“Having a child is a wonderful blessing,” Ellen said. “The fact that the two of you are expecting is an absolute joy. I wanted children with my late husband. I wanted to fill his home full of them. I wanted a massive family and lots of grandchildren, and I’d dream about it every night as I fell asleep beside him.”
“Why didn’t you two have children?” I asked.
I was trying to put the focus back on her instead of me in order to stray away from the topic of Hailey. I was no longer comfortable discussing that with her, not until I could pinpoint her actual motives and put her in her place again if it was necessary.
“Between our active careers, we just never found the time. We kept putting it off and pushing it away, and then his death took everyone by surprise. Now, I’m a bit too old to be doing that kind of thing,” she said.
“Many women in their thirties are having children nowadays,” I said.
“Thirties? Oh, Bryan. You flatter me.”
Shit. This woman wasn’t in her thirties? I figured she was thirty-eight or thirty-nine, and now I had unwittingly paid her a compliment. I needed to get this meeting back on track and back into a business-like tone. I was digging a hole I didn’t need to be digging, and now I was digging it further without a damn flashlight to light the way.
“I’m forty-three, hardly an age where a woman could have a child and give it the best it needs. The foundation is my child now. My legacy. And I want you to know I appreciate how much you are helping with that legacy with the professionalism and the intelligence and the skills and ideas you’re bringing to your job. I’m tempted to bump your salary with all of the work you’ve already accomplished,” Ellen said.
“You’re very kind. It’s nice to know my efforts aren’t going unnoticed, especially since I haven’t been here. And I want to thank you again for partnering with the construction company.”
“How is that going, by the way? I haven’t had anyone drop in on that project lately. That Foreman Duke of yours is a spitfire,” she said.
“It’s going really well. We expanded into some other areas and hired a few more people to help. Things are stabilizing and the company’s bringing in the kind of money I figured it would. Duke’s keeping up on his payments to you, right?”
“I actually toggled things a bit on that when you were gone,” she said. “Instead of making payments back for the money we funneled in to get you set up in another city, we’re helping to fund all the building of the homes, trailers, and tiny houses your company enjoys giving away. Funding those projects fully opened up the revenue to pay the other hires. Or so Duke told me.”
“Well, if Duke says it’s so, then it’s probably so. I’m headed there after the meeting for him to brief me on things, but it sounds like things are going well,” I said.
“I wanted to talk with you about this new hire. Anna?” she asked.
“What about her?”
“I wanted to talk about expanding the scope of her program.”
“Program or project?” I asked.
“No, no. She’s taking over her project this summer to see if it’ll work, the free legal counsel thing she’s doing. But, if it’s successful, I want to know what it’s going to take to make that project a part of her program. The board loves what she’s doing and isn’t sure why we didn’t come up with it sooner.”
“I could run some numbers tomorrow and come up with a couple coordination tactics to keep things nice and tidy.”
“I would appreciate that. Any way you could get it to me to pass to them by Friday?” she asked.
“Consider it done,” I said.
I walked out of my meeting with Ellen and tried to center myself for where I was headed next. I didn't want anyone to register anything on my face except excitement. I needed to talk with Foreman Duke about the new changes that had taken place within the company, but I also needed to stop by the site where the house was being built. If I had it my way, I would have built this thing with my own two hands. I would have directed every aspect of the construction and checked every nail before it was driven into the wood. But I had the foundation job to worry about, I’d had the European tour I went on with Hailey, and now I had a baby on the way.
So, I had to put my trust in the hands of one of the guys I had trained during my time at the construction company.
“Bryan!”
“Foreman Jack. Just the man I wanted to see.”
“Coming to check up on the house?” he asked.
“The pictures you sent while I was away didn’t do it justice. This house is massive,” I said.
“With all the room you wanted and the views you specified, it needed to be,” he said.
“How’s it coming along?” I asked.
“Well, the outside’s completely done. We’re putting the finishing touches on everything on the inside. Should only take a couple more weeks. You got that wallpaper for me yet?”
“Not yet. Hailey just got done painting the wall of that room.”
“She’s going to be so pissed at you for keeping this from her,” he said.
“I was concerned about that too. But I think it’ll all be okay in the end. I’ve been trying to match the decoration in the house as best as I can while still leaving room for her to put her own details on it. And her painting isn’t going to waste. Not completely.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” he said, grinning.
“You said a couple of weeks?” I asked.
“Yep. You just worry about getting me that wallpaper. Once we’re a couple of days from finishing, I’ll let you know so you can furniture shop.”