again if it meant I could have more of these moments with her.
Sensing my presence, she opens her eyes and glances over her shoulder. As she’s about to stand, I shake my head. “Stay.” I lift the two beers. “Figured you could use one after today.” I lower myself beside her and hand her the beer.
“Thanks.” She brings her bottle toward mine, clinking them.
“You bet.”
I swallow a sip of my beer, the cold liquid refreshing after spending nearly ten hours working in the humidity. It’s certainly not what I’m accustomed to. I’m used to sitting in an air-conditioned boardroom while dressed in a suit. I forgot how much I liked this part of the job. It’s what sparked my passion to design buildings in the first place. It makes me want more of this.
“It’s so peaceful here,” Londyn remarks after several quiet moments, the only sounds the ambient music of nature. “Like you can forget everything else and just enjoy the moment.” She takes a long pull from the bottle, finishing on a satisfied exhale. “I can see why you and Julia loved coming here as kids. It’s so different from Atlanta.”
I nod, peering into the distance, feeling like no time has passed since those summer days I’d sit in this very spot, Gampy at my side, sipping on a sweet tea or lemonade, the sound of Meemaw cooking in the kitchen cutting through the chirping birds and buzzing mosquitos. The birds still chirp. Mosquitos still buzz. But I’ll never again sit beside Gampy as he tries to impart words of wisdom, or listen to Meemaw teach Julia how to make whatever comfort foods she would fill our bellies with that evening for supper.
“It really made my childhood memorable. If it weren’t for Gampy and Meemaw…” I shake my head, struggling to find the words. “You probably picked up on it last night, but my parents haven’t always been the best role models.”
“It wasn’t too difficult to figure out.”
“I don’t have as antagonistic a relationship with them as Julia does.” I laugh to myself. “Kind of hard to work with your father if you don’t get along.”
She whips her eyes to mine. “You work together?”
“More or less.” I shrug. “I come from a very long line of architects on my father’s side of the family. My father’s an architect. His father was an architect. His grandfather was an architect, and so on.”
“So you had no choice but to become an architect, too,” she states, assuming she has me figured out.
“Actually, I wanted to be an architect, but not because of my father. What he did never intrigued me. Whenever I saw him working, he was sitting at a drafting desk, drawing up plans. Granted, I actually enjoy that part of it now, but when you’re a ten-year-old boy, there’s nothing exciting about that. There’s a reason no young child says they want to be an accountant when they grow up.”
“True.”
“I wanted to do something with my hands. So, in reality, it was Gampy who inspired me. From the moment I could lift a hammer, he taught me how to build, taught me the science and physics behind it all before I even took a single architecture class in college.”
“What kinds of things did you make?”
I nod at the long, wooden building beside the overgrown horse paddock in the distance. “I helped him build those stables. I was probably only nine or ten at the time. After that, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.” I heave a sigh. “And for a while, that’s kind of what I did for the firm, at least when I was fresh out of college. I designed buildings, then supervised the implementation of my design. But as I gained more experience, I moved up in the hierarchy of the firm, spent less time on job sites and more time in the office to the point where I barely remember what it’s like to do the actual building anymore. I always knew I’d eventually take over the firm. It’s been run by a Bradford since my great-great-great-great-grandfather started the business as a one-man operation during Reconstruction. But…” I shrug.
“It’s not what you thought it would be,” Londyn says. It’s not a question. More an observation.
“I know what it must sound like. That I’m complaining about having security in a job that pays well enough for me to live comfortably for the rest of my life. Believe me. I have absolutely nothing to complain about there.”