Someone did want to be next to you, Malcolm said quietly. She turned to look at him. Jerome practically dragged you over to our chairs, he said. Jaden talked to you for 20 minutes about his shell. I He stopped.
You what? She asked. He was quiet for a moment. The honest answer was sitting right there. And he'd spent six years making a habit of not saying honest answers out loud.
And old habits don't break easy. I wasn't unhappy you stayed, he said finally. 2 hours. That's the honest truth. Viven looked at him for a long moment.
Malcolm, she said. Can I ask you something and have you answer me honestly instead of carefully? Those are usually different things for me. I know. That's why I'm asking.
He looked at her. Go ahead. She took a breath. In 3 years of working together, have you ever thought about me as anything other than your client? The question landed between them like a stone dropped in still water.
Malcolm didn't answer immediately. He looked out at the water. He felt the familiar reflex, the retreat, the deflection, the careful repositioning of the conversation into safer territory. He felt it rise up and he let it go. "Yes," he said.
"One word, but it took more out of him than a long speech would have." Viven exhaled slowly like she'd been holding that breath for longer than just this conversation. "I have thought about you," she said carefully. "For a long time, in ways that I told myself were inappropriate given our professional situation, given the power imbalance, given everything." She looked at him.
I convinced myself I was protecting you, protecting us professionally, protecting the work we were doing, which matters. A pause. But if I'm being honest, and apparently today is the day for that. I think I was also protecting myself. Malcolm said nothing.
He was listening with the full undivided attention that he usually reserved for his son. I watched you for a long time before I ever had the courage to say any of this," she continued. "The way you work, the way you treat people, your crew, the residents, the families in those neighborhoods, the way you show up for Jaden." Her voice softened at the boy's name. "I watched you at the Riverside Project 2 years ago.
There was a family, the Hendersons. Do you remember them?" Their unit had a foundation issue that set the timeline back 6 weeks. Malcolm nodded slowly. He remembered.
You went over there on a Saturday. Viven said, "I know because my project manager mentioned it and I happened to be driving through. You went over there with materials in the back of your truck and you helped them temporarily reinforce that space yourself so they could stay in the unit while repairs were arranged. Off the clock, not in the contract." She paused.