“Let me do it,” Meredith said.
Eli’s eyes snapped to hers. “Meredith?—”
“Dad, I know this project inside and out. I know every number, every spec, every change order Vance has pushed through. I’m the one he’s been undermining for weeks—calling me demeaning names, demanding you instead of me, going over my head. If you present this, it’s a senior partner accusinghis client’s employee. If I present it, it’s the project architect showing the team is on top of things even the client doesn’t know.”
“It’s also my daughter walking into a room to take on a man who’s been trying to destroy her credibility.”
Connor leaned forward and looked at Eli. “And walking out having destroyed his,” he said.
Eli looked at him, then at her, and she saw the war between father and CEO playing out in real time. The father wanted to stand in front of her, take the hit, handle the hard stuff so she wouldn’t have to. The CEO knew she was right.
“Please, Dad.” Her voice softened. “I need this. Not just for the project. For me.”
He held her gaze, thinking. Then he nodded.
“I’ll be in the room. But it’s your presentation.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need me to help before tomorrow?” he asked.
“No,” she said without hesitation. “Please go home. You look…bad.”
He gave a sad smile. “I’ve been better,” he admitted. Then he gathered his briefcase and glanced at his desk, ignoring everything on it. “Yeah, I’m going home. You two put together something bulletproof for tomorrow. I’m counting on you. On both of you.”
“Let me go out with you.” Meredith stood and walked with her father to the parking lot, grateful he didn’t question her need for some privacy. Outside, the early evening air wrapped them in a blanket of humidity as they headed toward Dad’s truck in the silent construction site.
“One more question?” she ventured.
“Anything, honey.”
“Will you tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “And I don’t mean Vance. I’m worried about you.”
He leaned against his truck and crossed his arms, looking less like her father and more like a man who was simply, profoundly tired.
“Kate and I have reached an impasse,” he said. “About faith.”
Meredith waited.
“I won’t go into the details now, but she’s asked me to choose between her and what I believe, and I…” He pressed his lips together. “I can’t make that choice, Mer. Not because I don’t love her. Because I do. More than I thought I could love anyone again.”
“Your faith isn’t negotiable.” She knew that—didn’t anyone who ever met and interacted with him to any deep extent? She didn’t understand it, didn’t embrace it, but she fully respected her father’s beliefs and his unwavering moral compass.
“It is not negotiable,” he agreed. “My faith in God is my foundation—and you know how I feel about those.”
She laughed. “Deep and strong and never on sand.”
He smiled. “It’s why the Summer House cost a small fortune. But my personal foundation is deep and strong and not built on sand, either. If she can’t or won’t accept that, then I can’t pretend it doesn’t matter.”
“Can’t she just…live with it? Admire it and even learn about it? I don’t get why she’s so intractable.”
“The slightest mention of Jesus can do that to people,” he said. “He told us that would happen. He warned us that families could break over His name.”
Meredith felt the ache of it settle into her chest—not just for her father, but for Kate, who she genuinely liked and admired.
“She’s leaving after the wedding this weekend,” Eli added quietly. “Going back to Ithaca with Emma.”
“Dad, I’m so sorry.” She hugged him, pressing her face against his chest the way she used to when the world was too much and Dad was the only fix.