Chapter 6: The Work Speaks

The ballroom had been closed for nearly eight years.

Nathan stood beneath a chandelier wrapped in protective cloth and studied the walnut panel beside the northern windows. A previous repair had hidden the lower half behind a thin sheet of veneer. Moisture had lifted one corner.

Around him, other bidders took photographs and asked the project manager about the schedule. Luis measured the surviving trim. Their restoration specialist, Mae Porter, examined the joinery where two panels met.

“This part’s original,” she told Nathan. “The backing too.”

“Can we keep it?”

“If the wall behind it is sound.”

Nathan asked the project manager for permission to inspect the exposed edge. He was allowed to take photographs, but no one could remove material during the tour. He wrote down the exact measurements he would need if they advanced to the next round.

Back at the shop, Nathan assigned Luis the door moldings and asked Mae to document the original profiles. He took responsibility for the window panels and the estimate. For three evenings they worked after regular jobs were finished, testing how to match the old walnut without making the repairs look artificially aged.

On Friday, Luis set two samples beside each other.

“I’d pick the darker one,” he said.

“It matches the photograph,” Nathan replied. “Look at the wood from the room.”

Luis held the photograph against Mae’s notes. The finish in the picture had darkened under years of varnish and poor lighting. They chose the lighter sample and prepared a separate finish test for the committee.

Nathan submitted the proposal before the deadline. It included itemized labor, a schedule his small team could actually meet, and a plan for preserving the original wood wherever possible.

He did not tell Victoria he had entered.

Two days later, she called him.

“Charles put the bidders’ list in a meeting packet,” she said. “Your shop is on it.”

“It is.”

“I wish you’d told me.”

“I didn’t want you involved.”

“You could have told me without asking me to get involved.”

Nathan leaned against his truck outside a job site. “You’re right.”

“I’ve removed myself from the selection committee. I won’t receive the scoring or take part in the decision.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. If your work earns the project, people may still talk.”

“I know. I’ve decided to bid anyway.”

He heard her breathe out. “I hope they give every proposal a fair look.”

“So do I.”

They said goodbye. It was their first call in nearly two weeks. Nathan stayed beside the truck for a moment after it ended, then went back to work.

The committee invited three firms to present samples in the ballroom. Nathan’s shop was one of them.

At the presentation, a larger company arrived with a display board and polished renderings. Nathan brought a walnut panel his team had built at full depth, with removable sections to show its construction. Mae carried the finish samples. Luis had the measured profiles and installation schedule.

Charles sat with the committee. Victoria was absent.

Nathan explained which original sections they could save and which needed replacement. When a committee member asked why his estimate included more hours for the north wall, he showed her the photographs of the moisture damage and the inspection access they would need before cutting new wood.

“We can price it lower if you want us to cover that area without checking it,” Nathan said. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

The committee member studied the photographs. “Keep the inspection in the price.”

Afterward, Luis looked pale. “Did you mean to say it like that?”

“She asked.”

“You told her we could do a worse job for less money.”

“I told her what the lower number would buy.”

A week passed. Nathan completed two residential jobs and tried not to check his email every hour.

Then the project manager asked the finalists to attend a second meeting. Beneath the north window, a maintenance worker had found a loose section behind the veneer. It revealed a narrow channel cut into the old framing.

One bidder proposed replacing the entire wall section. Another wanted more time for investigation.

Nathan asked for the old building drawings. He compared them with Mae’s photographs and the channel’s position.

“It may have carried wiring for the original wall lights,” he said. “The wood beside it looks sound. We’d need to open a small section to confirm, with your approval. If it is sound, we can retain the panel and build access behind the molding.”

The project manager asked him to draw the detail. Luis held the plans steady while Nathan sketched a removable piece that followed the surviving profile. Mae checked his dimensions.

By the end of the meeting, the project manager had asked all three firms to revise their bids in light of the discovery. Nathan returned to the shop and worked with his team on the revised detail. Their new number was slightly higher than the first. It was still within the range they had explained.

At the final presentation, Nathan laid the revised sample on the conference table. The committee examined the fitted piece, removed it, and put it back.

“It gives the maintenance team access without cutting through the panel later,” Nathan said.

The chair nodded. “That answers our concern.”

For the first time since he had entered the project, Nathan felt certain of the work in front of them. The team had found a good solution. Whatever the committee decided, he could defend every line of their proposal.

Charles closed the sample folder.

“There is one more concern,” he said. “Your work may be qualified. But if we award this contract to you, how do we demonstrate that Ms. Bennett’s personal relationship had no part in the decision?”

Nathan kept his hand on the walnut panel.

He had prepared for questions about cost, materials, and schedule. He had prepared for this one too.

He opened the second folder he had brought to the meeting.