“What’s happening?” I asked. I leaned forward, holding her gaze with mine. “Why did you think I was going to say ‘I told you so’?”
“Just tell me you didn’t do it,” she said. Her voice wobbled a little, and I could see a sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Do what?” I asked. I steeled myself. My sister’s tears had always gotten to me.
“Chased off my crew,” she said. “When I arrived at eight this morning, Micah, my construction manager, was the only one here. Everyone else was a no-show.”
I leaned back in my seat. “Shit.”
Her features were pinched and her face pale when she turned to me and asked, “Was it you?”
“What?” I cried. “How can you even ask that? I would never. I’m the one who—” I bit off the words before I confessed that I had invested in her career by paying for her education. She didn’t need to know that.
“Who what?” she asked.
“Who is committed to the development of my city,” I said. It sounded ridiculous but I had to pivot somewhere and that was all I had. “I would never sabotage any project, especially yours.”
I held her gaze, and finally, she nodded. “Okay, then.” She exhaled a short, tight breath. “So why are you here?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” I began. I chose my next words carefully. I wanted to be clear that the support I was offering was financial only. “I’d like to help you—”
“Oh, Nicky!” she cried, interrupting me. “Do you mean it? This is so great!”
“Nick,” I corrected her. She ignored me, and I saw a speculative look in Annabelle’s eye. Nicky sounded much more familiar than a business acquaintance. Damn it.
Lexi turned to Annabelle. “I’m sorry if I was rude before. It was a rough morning. Do you work for Nicky?”
“No!” “Yes!” we answered at the same time. We glanced at each other. I wanted to correct her and point out that she did work for me in the sense that she would be representing Daire Industries, but it was clear Annabelle didn’t see it that way.
“I’m Nick’s tenant,” Annabelle explained. “But I’m also a graphic designer, and he seemed to think you might have need of one.”
Lexi looked from Annabelle to me, raising one eyebrow in question.
“If you’re going to woo investors, get the city’s support, and get the public on board, you have to get ahead of the project with the right packaging,” I said. “Whenever I started a development, I already had the angle I was going to use to sell it.”
Lexi’s face grew grim. “I already have the angle. Green Springs is all about renewable resources and being self-sustaining.”
“Still sounds like a place where people go to die,” I said. Lexi let out a bleat of protest, but I steamrolled right over her. “Annabelle is one of the best graphic designers in the country. She’ll work with you to rename your project and design your logo and the necessary accompanying materials.”
Lexi’s head dropped to her chest. “While I appreciate the offer, I have bigger issues than the name and logo. In case you didn’t hear me, someone drove off my crew.”
I shrugged. “Then they weren’t worth having.”
“Easy for you to say,” she said. “Without your public show of support, Nick, I’m doomed.”
She looked so defeated. It reminded me of the time we were vacationing in Lake Tahoe before our parents flaked on us, and she was determined to catch a crawfish but they were quicker than her chubby four-year-old fingers could manage. She’d stood in the cold water until her lips turned blue, her eyes as sad and lost as any I’d ever seen. Needless to say, I found a bucket and helped her catch loads of them.
“I know plenty of general contractors. I’ll hire you a new crew,” I said. “Just like I’ll pay Annabelle to design your corporate identity.”
Lexi’s lips thinned. “I don’t want your money. I want your support. There’s a difference.”
“Well, now you’re getting both,” I said. “And I’m not giving you the money. It’s an investment. I’m buying in and I fully expect to double my money if not triple it when the properties start selling. Your project will get done and on time, and you can use my name however it will benefit you.”
And just like that, her eyes shone. Her smile lit up the room, and she threw herself across the table to hug me tight around the neck. “You mean it? You’ll help me? You’ll go to the gala and talk up the project and help me with the city council?”
“Whoa,” I said. I unhooked her arms and pushed her gently back into her seat. “I said you can use my name. Annabelle will be the face of Daire Industries at any public functions you require.”
Her shoulders slumped. “But not you?”
“My name will be on the checks,” I said. “In construction, that speaks louder than any fancy shindig.”
“But—” she protested.
“Take it or leave it, Lexi,” I said.
I could feel Annabelle’s eyes flitting between us. She was obviously trying to determine the relationship between us. I’d say estranged sibling with a side of distrust at least on Lexi’s side of things. While I was more in the “estranged and trying to keep it that way” category.
“I’ll take it,” Lexi said. “But I’m not going to stop asking you to come to the gala. It’s going to be the biggest event in Phoenix. Anyone who is anyone is going to be there.”
“How is that?” I asked.
She grinned. “Are you kidding? When word gets out that you’re supporting a net-zero housing development, I won’t be able to keep them away.”
“I’m not going to the gala, Lexi.”
“So you say.” She tipped her chin up and turned to Annabelle. “What has Nick told you about this project?”
“That you’re going to revolutionize home building,” she said.
Lexi barked out a laugh. She patted my arm and said, “Same old Nicky. You always did believe in me more than I did myself.”
I felt my throat get tight at her words. It was jarring to have her back in my life. I didn’t know how to feel about it. I’d intentionally not reached out to her for twenty years so that she could have a better life with a good family, and yet here she was.
Why now? Why when I was feeling like a poor imitation of my old self? I didn’t want her to see me as broken or weak. I wanted her to remember me as her hero. And I definitely didn’t want her to get attached just to have me punch out early and leave her brotherless again. What would that do for her? Nothing good.