Chapter 7: A Fair Answer

Nathan opened the folder and placed three documents beside the walnut panel.

“The first is our original proposal,” he said. “The second is the invitation sent to every bidder for the site tour. The third is the revised scope your project manager issued after the opening behind the north wall was found.”

Charles looked down at them. The committee chair, a woman named Denise Warren, pulled the documents closer.

“I’m not questioning whether you followed the bidding instructions,” Charles said.

“Then tell me what you’re questioning.”

“If you receive the contract, people may believe Victoria influenced the decision.”

Nathan kept his voice even. “She may be blamed if I get it. I may be blamed if I lose it. Neither tells you whether this panel fits your ballroom.”

Denise picked up the sample again. She removed the access piece and fitted it back into place.

“She hasn’t attended either presentation,” Nathan continued. “I haven’t spoken with her about anyone’s score. I can answer questions about our work. I can’t answer for what people might say about us.”

Charles glanced toward the project manager, who confirmed that Victoria had not participated in the review.

Denise turned to Nathan. “Why bring copies of our own documents?”

“Because I want the same record you’ll use when you decide. Our price changed after the scope changed. The reason is on those pages.”

She compared the two estimates. “Your revised labor hours are higher.”

“By sixty-eight. Forty-two are for opening and inspecting the affected section before we fabricate anything. The rest cover the access detail and finishing.”

“And if the framing is damaged?”

“We stop and show you what we find. That work isn’t included in the bid.”

Nathan had lost jobs by saying things like that. He would rather lose another than promise a fixed price for wood no one had seen.

Denise closed the folder. “Thank you. We have what we need.”

Outside the conference room, Luis caught Nathan’s arm.

“I thought Charles was going to throw us out.”

“He asked a fair question.”

“He asked it like he wanted you to leave.”

Nathan looked back at the closed door. “I’m glad he asked while I was there to answer.”

They went to the shop and returned to the residential orders waiting on their benches. By late afternoon, Nathan’s nerves had settled enough for him to cut the first hinge recess without checking his measurement three times.

The committee did not call that day. Or the next.

On Thursday, an email arrived asking Nathan to speak with the project manager. He went alone. He had prepared himself to congratulate whichever firm had won.

The project manager met him in the empty ballroom. Strips of protective tape still marked the floor. Beneath the wrapped chandeliers, she handed him a two-page decision summary.

“The main restoration is going to Harlow & Finch,” she said. “They can staff the full construction schedule.”

Nathan nodded. His team could not have taken on the entire room without turning away every other customer.

She continued. “The custom millwork package is yours, pending a final agreement.”

He looked up from the page. “Ours?”

“Your preservation plan scored highest for the window panels and door moldings. The committee also liked that your access detail can be removed without cutting the original work.”

Nathan read the summary. Cole Woodcraft was named as the recommended millwork contractor. The evaluation listed craft quality, preservation approach, schedule, and price. It included no mention of Victoria.

“Can I have a copy of the score sheet for our records?” he asked.

“I’ve attached it to the email I sent you this morning. I wanted to tell you in person before you read it.”

Nathan let out a breath and shook her hand. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me until you see the north wall.”

At the shop, Luis was operating a sander with his headphones on. Nathan waited until he turned it off.

“We got the millwork.”

Luis pulled off his hearing protectors. “All of it?”

“The panels, moldings, and window surrounds. Harlow & Finch got the main restoration.”

Mae, who was checking a sample at the next bench, lifted her head. “That’s the part we wanted.”

Nathan handed them the summary. Luis read the first page, then went back to the beginning as if the words might change.

“We got it,” he said again.

Nathan looked around at the crowded shop. They would need to move two smaller jobs on the schedule and ask the part-time apprentice to work more hours. They could manage it. He took a pencil and began marking dates on the board.

Emma came in after school and found all four of them bent over the schedule.

“Did somebody break something?” she asked.

“We won a job,” Nathan said.

“How big?”

“Big enough that Luis is finally going to label his tools.”

“I label my tools,” Luis protested.

Emma spotted his pencil on Nathan’s bench and raised an eyebrow.

That night, Nathan typed a message to Victoria.

Cole Woodcraft won the ballroom millwork package. The committee sent the score sheet. I wanted you to hear it from me.

He read it twice before sending it.

Her reply came ten minutes later.

I’m glad they saw what you made. Please tell Emma I hope her box turned out well.

Nathan showed Emma the message. She took the phone and typed her own answer.

It did. I carved the star without Dad helping.

Victoria replied with a star emoji and a photograph of the place card Nathan had returned to her. It sat beside a small piece of walnut on her desk.

Emma looked from the phone to her father. “You can answer that yourself.”

Nathan took it back. He wanted to tell Victoria about Luis’s face when he heard the news, about Mae’s satisfaction with the committee’s notes, about the relief of seeing a decision he could take home and explain to his daughter.

He wrote,

Thank you for staying out of the selection.

Then he erased it. She had already done what she said she would.

Emma’s star looks better than my first attempt at carving one,

he sent instead.

They exchanged a few more messages. Nathan set the phone aside when Emma asked him to look at the finished box. They talked about her carving, and he made dinner.

The contract gave Nathan work he was proud to accept. It had done nothing by itself to mend the conversation in Victoria’s office. He understood that more clearly now. When he was ready to see her again, he would have to ask.