Chương 12
Priya touched my elbow before I sat down.
“Remember what we discussed.”
“I remember.”
“You do not have to fill silence.”
“I know.”
“People who hate silence will do that for you.”
She glanced toward Graham.
“Some more enthusiastically than others.”
Graham pretended not to hear.
He was in his late fifties, silver-haired, expensive suit, no tie, the sort of man who looked deliberately informal in rooms where everyone else had dressed carefully.
I had met him twice when Julian was alive.
Both times he had called me Serena.
Today he knew my name.
“Sienna.”
He stood.
“I’m very sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”
I shook his hand because refusing would have turned the gesture into an event.
“Thank you.”
His palm was warm and dry.
“I admired Julian enormously.”
I looked at him.
He held my gaze just long enough to signal sincerity, then sat.
Priya opened her folder.
“Let’s begin.”
For three hours, people discussed percentages as though percentages were harmless.
Thirty percent affordable units became thirty-two.
The affordability period went from fifteen years to twenty-five.
Bellweather agreed to restore the daycare space but wanted flexibility about the operator.
The local hiring commitment turned into an argument over what the word local meant.
At one point, two lawyers spent eleven minutes discussing census tracts.
I drank bad coffee and tried to imagine Julian surviving this without being asked to leave.
Andrea Mills did most of Bellweather’s talking.
She was younger than Graham, probably early forties, with a calm voice and a habit of writing down questions before answering them.
She never pretended Bellweather had noble motives.
“We need a return that justifies the acquisition,” she said.
“And we understand community commitments are part of what makes the acquisition viable.”
“That sounds prettier than it is,” I said.
“It probably does.”
She capped her pen.
“But pretending we aren’t trying to make money won’t help you evaluate the deal.”
I liked her more for saying it.
That did not make me trust her.
Around noon, Graham began losing patience.
“We are negotiating against ourselves at this point.”
Priya looked at him.
“No, Graham.”
Her voice was mild.
“You are negotiating against the consequences of documents you signed.”
His jaw shifted.
“This project was not financially sustainable in its original form.”
“Then why didn’t you tell Julian you were pursuing an acquisition?”
“I did not owe Julian advance notice of every conversation.”
“You owed him duties as a partner.”
“My counsel disagrees with your characterization.”
His lawyer moved slightly in his chair.
Priya smiled.
“I’m sure he does.”
Graham turned toward me.
“Sienna, I understand why this has become emotional.”
I felt Priya’s shoe touch mine beneath the table.
Not a warning exactly.
A reminder.
I waited.
Graham continued.
“Julian believed deeply in the original vision.”
Still I said nothing.
“But he was an architect.”
Andrea glanced toward him.
It was subtle.
Disapproval, maybe.
Graham did not notice.
“He wasn’t responsible for protecting the rest of us from financial exposure.”
Melissa’s expression tightened.
I finally spoke.
“He owned twenty-eight percent.”
“Yes.”
“So apparently he was responsible for some of the financial exposure.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Graham leaned back.
“What I mean is that Julian could be idealistic.”
“He could.”
“He sometimes refused to accept practical realities.”
“Definitely.”
Graham seemed encouraged.
“He could also be stubborn.”
“Painfully.”
A small smile appeared on his face.
“Then you understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
The smile disappeared.
“Julian was stubborn, idealistic, financially secretive, and apparently willing to make decisions that scared his own father.”
Thomas had not come.
He said the vote belonged to me.
I had been angry with him for that until I realized he was right.
I looked around the table.
“He was also entitled to know when his partners were negotiating a sale that erased commitments he had put his name on.”
Graham opened his mouth.
I continued.
“I’m not here to preserve Julian as some perfect dead man.”
Nobody moved.
“He lied to me about how much money he invested.”
Melissa looked down.
“I am furious with him for that.”
My voice stayed level.
“But his mistakes don’t make yours disappear.”
Graham’s face reddened.
“This is becoming personal.”
“It became personal when my sister’s firm helped your buyer plan around my husband.”
Priya did not touch my foot this time.
She did not have to.
I stopped.
Andrea broke the silence.
“Perhaps we should take lunch.”
Everyone agreed too quickly.
I carried my sandwich to a narrow balcony outside the conference room.
Richmond traffic moved below.
Someone had left two dead potted plants beside the railing.
I was peeling a tomato from the bread when Melissa stepped outside.
“Mind if I stand here?”
“It’s not my balcony.”
She leaned against the railing.
For a minute, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “Graham told us Julian knew.”
I looked at her.
“About Bellweather?”
“Not the details.”
She rubbed her thumb across the edge of her phone.
“He said Julian knew an exit was being explored.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
She gave a humorless laugh.
“My share is eleven percent, Sienna.”
“I know.”
“My firm had a bad year.”
“You mentioned that.”
“I didn’t mention how bad.”
She watched a bus turn below us.
“If this closes, I pay off a credit line that’s been waking me up at three in the morning for fourteen months.”
“If it doesn’t?”
“I keep pretending everything is fine.”
There was nothing useful to say.
So I took another bite of the terrible sandwich.
Melissa looked at it.
“Is that turkey?”
“I think so.”
“You’re brave.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled.
Then her face settled again.
“I’m not asking you to approve the sale.”
“I know.”
“I’m asking you not to assume everybody who wants it is Graham.”
I swallowed.
“That’s fair.”
She nodded once.
“Julian and I fought about this constantly.”
“Did you like him?”
“Oh, God, sometimes.”
I laughed.
May you like
“He could be unbearable.”
“He once sent me seventeen articles about affordable housing finance after I told him I was going on vacation.”
