“Yes,” I said, as I clicked on the slide displaying my vision for the library. I decided to launch into it before Chase offered any more of his helpful comments. “The building itself is beautiful and for the exterior what we need is just a refresh,” I explained, bringing up a photo of the building as it was before the renovation and an image I’d generated with the changes we planned to incorporate. The few sounds of approval in the room bolstered me to launch into my rundown for this phase of the renovation. That and the intense yet encouraging expression on Theo’s face I kept catching in my peripheral vision.

“The bigger job has been interior,” I told them as an image with a big airy room lined with bookshelves appeared on the screen. The building was in the Spanish Mission style and my most ambitious plan involved turning the courtyard into a climate-controlled, four-seasons atrium. “This will be the showpiece for the library.” I pointed with the little red light in my hand. “It will be built for the purpose of providing the community a place to enjoy a good book and some of that famous Texas sunshine.”

The Smithson-Napa rep was smiling wide, but I barely got three more words in before Chase interrupted me.

“See, this is what I meant when I said we need someone seasoned. This is much too ambitious for the time frame we have. And that mural? Isn’t that a little played out?” He flicked his hand in the direction of the area where the picture books would be displayed. “It’ll take weeks.”

“Like I said, I already have the artists lined up. They are both alumni of the Sturm Foundation’s art program and have promised to finish it in five days, also—”

“So the contractor won’t be able to get anything done in there for five days? That will throw off the entire plan.” He sounded shrill and so fucking smug. I would not let this asshole make me cry in front of all these people. For some reason, I turned to Theo. Typically his presence would only serve to make me even more nervous, but this morning, seeing how pissed off he looked on my behalf helped. It helped a lot. His brow was furrowed as he stared at the showrunner, his mouth twisted in a very hostile expression. He looked like he wanted to slap the shit out of Chase. I was just hoping not to cry or throw up before the meeting was over.

“We have footage from the area where the atrium will go, we don’t need to get in there until it’s further along,” Tina reminded Chase, returning my focus to the conversation.