Inked Persuasion (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,46
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“We’re where we need to be. The permits are either already in or well on their way. We are in different stages for certain areas, and some of our inspections are already complete. We’re in a waiting game for team members as we finish a few projects, but we’re doing well.”
My dad narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see about that. Let’s go through it again.”
I held back a groan, exhausted by all of this already. However, maybe going through it for the fiftieth time would ensure that we didn’t miss anything important. Or maybe it would just give me more of a headache, and I would cry to myself about it all later. I hated this feeling. The one that came from my father acting like a stranger. He asked so much of us, tried to take even more, and I knew he didn’t understand us. But he was fantastic at what he did, and sometimes his pushing helped us in more ways than I could count. So, I would deal with this. At least, for now. If it got too bad, we’d have to think about it as a family.
I didn’t have answers, but I was too tired to worry about it right now.
“What do you mean, you’re not doing it?” Dad asked, and I brought myself back to what was being said.
“What I’m saying is, we decided to go in another direction,” Beckett said slowly, and Benjamin met my gaze.
“What?” I asked, and he sighed. I hadn’t meant to miss some of the conversation. Oops. My bad.
“You know the way we used to do things isn’t as good for the environment. We’re working on this plan. It’ll be easier to add the solar with the layout we’re moving on.”
“You’re just going to put it all out there then? Just change everything that we’ve ever done in this company?”
“Father,” I said, keeping my voice stern but still respectable—at least as much as I could. “We’ve already decided to do this. You were in here when we did.”
“I don’t know. I still feel like it’s too big of a change.”
“It is a change. But it’s for the good of the company. We all decided we needed to be more eco-friendly, and this is what we’re doing.”
“It costs too much,” Dad complained.
“It does cost a lot,” I said, agreeing with him. “Sustainability is something we all need to worry about. And so, we are. You agreed to this with us last month. And the month before. We’re not changing this, Dad. I know it sucks, but we’re going to do it.”
Dad glared at me for a bit before nodding tightly. I knew this wasn’t over. He’d complain again, and we’d have this same conversation at least once more. However, I was the architect. I was the one in charge of the plans that were leading us in our new direction. And Dad would have to step back eventually. I only hoped he didn’t hate us when he finally did.
By the end of the meeting, my nerves were frayed, and we still had more questions than answers. Dad didn’t quite understand what we were doing, that we weren’t running away from his plans, that we were trying to build on them. And that was a problem. A big one. I just didn’t know how to fix it.
“This is going to be a problem,” Benjamin said as he walked in, echoing my thoughts.
“I think it already is,” I whispered.
“We need to talk to Mom. She’s the only one that can talk him down.”
“Except she’s getting just as bad as he is with some things,” I said softly.
Benjamin shook his head, his eyes tight. “I don’t have answers, and I know you don’t either. But I hate this. I’m starting to hate that our parents still work here. And I like our family. I don’t want to hate my parents.”
“Ditto,” Paige said from behind him, and Archer nodded.
Beckett just shook his head, glowering. “I sent Clay home. He took a Saturday morning off away from the kids to deal with Dad’s shitshow. And I’m done. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but this isn’t working anymore.”
I met my siblings’ gazes and nodded. “I know. We’re going to have to figure it out. I just don’t have answers right now. And I was going to work today anyway because I have plans to work on. I need to let my creative juices flow, and I haven’t been able to recently.”