Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 34

The next morning, Bonnie had barely settled in at her desk when Jim came over with news. They had a meeting at Evergreen Estates to go over the new master plan they had scrambled to finish last night.

She hadn’t even had time to get comfortable before Jim was ushering her out the door and into his car.

Evergreen Estates was The Lane Group’s real estate arm, with its offices on the seventh floor of a sleek downtown tower. Just last weekend, Bonnie had been on a date with Felton at the cinema nearby. Back then, she hadn’t realized that The Lane Group’s headquarters was right here. Honestly, when she’d been dating Felton, she hadn’t paid attention to much outside of their little world.

Standing in the plaza, Bonnie looked up at the tall glass building, the sun reflecting so brightly she had to squint. When they walked in, the receptionist swiped her card at the elevator for them. As soon as the doors closed, Jim leaned over and said in a low voice, “Lawrence at Evergreen is really invested in this project. Our contract is already done, and we’re moving into the next phase. The first design payment is already being processed. If we do a good job this year, we’re probably set for bonuses.”

With the market struggling, layoffs and pay cuts were hanging over everyone’s heads, and bonuses had started to feel like wishful thinking. For someone fresh out of college like Bonnie, she might only see a little holiday bonus if she was lucky.

“Jim, are they going to put more people on this project later?” Bonnie asked.

“Of course,” Jim said, nodding. “We can’t handle all this alone. Once we’ve done the site visit and the geology report comes in, the firm will have a team meeting and lock in the project team. After that, things are really going to pick up.”

Phase two was massive. From concept to construction documents, planning, architecture, landscaping, even interiors—if Evergreen handed all of it to their design firm, they wouldn’t just have a solid year. There’d be good money coming in for years.

“Everyone upstairs is watching this project. They still haven’t picked the lead for the construction docs—I hear there’s a lot of competition for that,” Jim added, lowering his voice like he was sharing a secret. “But that doesn’t really concern us…”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Bonnie turned to Jim as they stepped out. “Jim, that Meadows School project is also on a tight deadline. I’m worried I’m getting stretched too thin.”

Jim gave her a look that said he understood but just kept moving. “Hang in there a little longer. Once more people join the team, it’ll ease up. If you only do Meadows School, your end-of-year numbers won’t be great. The competition among the new hires this year is no joke.”

Someone near the door immediately stood and upped the central control from twenty to twenty-four degrees.

No one else thought much of the interruption, but Bonnie’s hand tightened around her pen.

She exhaled slowly and met Lawrence’s eyes, just for a second, calm and unreadable, before looking away.

Lawrence tasted bitterness in his mouth. He dropped his gaze too, forcing himself to focus on the project in front of him.

The layout had been redrawn with his feedback, and a few massing models had been rendered in SketchUp—something small, but he guessed Bonnie had done it. She was bright, she worked hard, and she never dragged her feet. Everything about her was crisp and efficient, even the way she’d colored the models and arranged the surroundings in the drawings. Simple, classy, and done just right.