Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 5

Tom smiled down at his phone.

It was a simple 'hi', from an unknown number, but Tom already knew it was her. He might have gone overboard with the balloons but it had been a couple of days since he'd seen her and when he thought it might be time to take her out, he realized her didn't even have her phone number. Of course, he could have waited to walk by the nonprofit but somehow he'd ended up at her office, making a fool of himself as he gaped outside that door.

It really was an impressive building. Big and new, impressive and elegant and it stood out against the skyline. He hadn't been inside in a very long time but he knew it well, after all, his parents built it. It was actually the only project they were able to do of that size, commissioned early on in their careers and it was that money that enabled them to get the business started. It was a shame that there weren't many more projects of that size to help them throughout the years.

His parents, while efficient and intelligent, never quite had the flair that Tom so much admired in other architects like Wright, Hadid, or Johnson. They build more out of functionality than design, but that was not to say they weren't good. Tom learned so much from his parents and was already building small models at a young age. Without them, he might have never become interested in architecture.

Edwin watched as Tom typed silently on his phone. He noticed the slight curl on the left side of lips, before lifting his index finder and biting into it gently. It was such an odd habit that Tom had whenever he was carefully considering something, extremely odd but it made it easy for Edwin to read Tom's mood.

"Something interesting?" Edwin asked after a few minutes. Tom didn't look up, instead just letting out a soft chuckled.

"Just a minute." He said, typing something out again.

Edwin had dropped by, like he often did, on his way home to catch Tom for a drink or maybe dinner. Usually, Edwin would wait for Tom outside, finding this old building a little depressing. It had been a while since he'd been inside and now, as he walked around the room, glancing over trinkets and photos, he noticed just how much worse the condition was. If Tom didn't do something soon, they building would fall into a different category of disrepair. He needed to sell this place before the city decided it was past repair and condemned it.

Eventually, he made his way to the old desk which his uncle once sat at and made himself comfortable in the degraded leather chair. He could almost picture this place, back in it's glory days, full of people with the phone ringing off the hook. Tom's father taking calls, his mother preparing presentations, at least two other architects and a civil engineer drafting projects. Now, the only calls coming in were from collectors. Edwin glanced down at the desk where piles of bills, past due notices, and bank statements were carefully laid out. He was worried about money again, and Edwin couldn't blame him.

Unfortunately, despite doing well, Edwin did not have the type of money to help bail Tom out of the situation. It was so unfair. No one knew, how could they? His aunt and uncle had really made a mess of things and poor Tom was now the one that had to deal with everything.

Edwin looked up, Tom was now smiling brightly, ear to ear as he typed away again on his phone. It had been a while since he'd seen Tom like that- hopeful almost. Tom was the last person who deserved this type problem. He had always been a generous and considerate person, always trying to make people around him as comfortable as possible. He was the type of charming person that people naturally gravitated to. And he was talented.

There was no doubt that Tom was talented. He'd graduated top of his class, had more teacher recommendations than his parents combined, and won more awards in school than they could count. His designs were not only practical, they were sound and imaginative. He had creative solutions to every day problems that were still aesthetically pleasing, and he always had the client's bottom line in mind. He was supposed to leave school and bring his parent's business to a new level, he'd declined nearly half a dozen offers before he even graduated, unaware of what the reality was.