It's been standing for 70 years because somebody built it to last. They weren't trying to beat somebody else's house. They were just trying to build something that would last. Richard was quiet for a moment. My daughter would say that's an excuse for not being ambitious enough.
Your daughter sounds like she'd say that. You haven't met her. No. Marcus agreed. But the way you describe her, he left it there.
Richard smiled. She's coming home in 2 weeks. She runs the company. She's very good at it. And she is exactly what you're imagining.
I'm not imaging anything, Marcus. Richard looked at him with kind direct eyes. I raised her. I know exactly what she is. Brilliant, dripping, completely convinced that the version of success she's built for herself is the only legitimate version.
He paused. She also hasn't slept more than 5 hours a night in 3 years. Hasn't been to dinner with a friend in 4 months and believes that vulnerability is a liability. He paused again. I worry about her, not her company.
Her? Marcus looked at him steadily. Why are you telling me this? Richard smiled slowly. Because you asked.
I didn't ask anything. You didn't have to. Richard pushed off from the truck and started back toward the house. Over his shoulder, he said. You're a man who actually listens, Marcus.
You have no idea how unusual that is. Marcus watched him go. He had a feeling, one that he didn't name and didn't examine too closely, that Richard Bennett was a man who arranged things, not manipulatively, not deceptively, just the way a good craftsman arranged the pieces of something before beginning the work. Knowing where they needed to end up, getting them into position, he went back to work and told himself he was imagining it. He wasn't imagining it.
3 Days before Olivia Bennett came home, Marcus lost another contract. He found out on a Tuesday afternoon, standing in a gas station parking lot, reading an email on his cracked screen phone. Hardrove Properties, a midsize development company he'd worked with twice before. Good client Reliable, had gone with another firm for the restoration of a historic building on Peach Tree Street. The email was polite.
The email said they valued his work and hoped to work together in the future. He knew what hope to work together in the future meant. He called Desawn Harrove. Marcus said a pause. Coastal probably.
Desawn was quiet for 3 seconds. Marcus, man, we need to talk about I know. I've got a family, too. Tommy's got rent. I know.