Page 43 of Inked Persuasion

“We know,” the three of us said, and I sighed again. We made our way to the conference room where Beckett was glowering at Dad, putting his body between Clay and my father.

Clay didn’t seem to mind. He had his chest out as if he were ready to stand up and protect us, as well. This infighting was ridiculous. It hadn’t always been this bad. We used to go to family reunions, and Dad had gotten along decently well with his brothers-in-law.

But then the Denver Montgomerys got a little more press, made a lot more money, and while we were doing just fine, we weren’t exactly in the same league as the rest of them—at least according to my father. I might disagree with that sentiment, but it wasn’t as if I had a voice. Not really. My dad was just as grumpy about me wanting to do my own thing as he was about being compared to the people he always compared himself to.

“Okay, come on. Let’s get this meeting going,” Paige said and looked around the room. “Is Mom coming?” she asked, and Dad shook his head. “No, she went down south.”

I held back a groan. Well, that explained the mood. Mom was visiting the new babies down in Denver or maybe in Colorado Springs. That meant Dad was alone at the house and grumbling about it.

And we were dealing with the consequences. I loved my father, I truly did, but sometimes he was such an asshole.

“Okay, let’s get this shit on the road.”

“Dad, language,” Paige said.

“We’re family here, and I thought you were all adults.”

“We’re in the workplace, and some of us aren’t related to the Montgomerys.”

My dad narrowed his eyes at Clay. “Fine, then. Sorry for the sentimentality.”

I held back a groan. “That’s enough of that,” I said.

“Where are we on the up-keeps?” Dad asked, and Beckett rolled his shoulders back.

“We’re where we need to be. The permits are either already in or well on their way. We are in different stages for certain areas, and some of our inspections are already complete. We’re in a waiting game for team members as we finish a few projects, but we’re doing well.”

My dad narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see about that. Let’s go through it again.”

I held back a groan, exhausted by all of this already. However, maybe going through it for the fiftieth time would ensure that we didn’t miss anything important. Or maybe it would just give me more of a headache, and I would cry to myself about it all later. I hated this feeling. The one that came from my father acting like a stranger. He asked so much of us, tried to take even more, and I knew he didn’t understand us. But he was fantastic at what he did, and sometimes his pushing helped us in more ways than I could count. So, I would deal with this. At least, for now. If it got too bad, we’d have to think about it as a family.

I didn’t have answers, but I was too tired to worry about it right now.

“What do you mean, you’re not doing it?” Dad asked, and I brought myself back to what was being said.

“What I’m saying is, we decided to go in another direction,” Beckett said slowly, and Benjamin met my gaze.

“What?” I asked, and he sighed. I hadn’t meant to miss some of the conversation. Oops.My bad.

“You know the way we used to do things isn’t as good for the environment. We’re working on this plan. It’ll be easier to add the solar with the layout we’re moving on.”

“You’re just going to put it all out there then? Just change everything that we’ve ever done in this company?”

“Father,” I said, keeping my voice stern but still respectable—at least as much as I could. “We’ve already decided to do this. You were in here when we did.”

“I don’t know. I still feel like it’s too big of a change.”

“It is a change. But it’s for the good of the company. We all decided we needed to be more eco-friendly, and this is what we’re doing.”

“It costs too much,” Dad complained.

“It does cost a lot,” I said, agreeing with him. “Sustainability is something we all need to worry about. And so, we are. You agreed to this with us last month. And the month before. We’re not changing this, Dad. I know it sucks, but we’re going to do it.”

Dad glared at me for a bit before nodding tightly. I knew this wasn’t over. He’d complain again, and we’d have this same conversation at least once more. However, I was the architect. I was the one in charge of the plans that were leading us in our new direction. And Dad would have to step back eventually. I only hoped he didn’t hate us when he finally did.

By the end of the meeting, my nerves were frayed, and we still had more questions than answers. Dad didn’t quite understand what we were doing, that we weren’t running away from his plans, that we were trying to build on them. And that was a problem. A big one. I just didn’t know how to fix it.

“This is going to be a problem,” Benjamin said as he walked in, echoing my thoughts.

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