“It’s brilliant!” Voit clapped his hands at them both. “When Mr. Morales asked us to create a grant to promote green initiatives in the area, I thought he might choose a recycling program or a campaign to promote the use of renewable energy. But a program to work with children… it was brilliant.”
Thank God Voit had thought so; Leo had been spinning on the fly as he presented the proposal to the board.
“And then,” Voit said, “he insisted that we vote immediately.”
Shit damn hell.“I wouldn’t say Iinsisted—”
Voit chuckled. “You said nothing but BUILD would do, and since Miss Fox was on board, there was no reason to delay the vote.”
Leo’s eyes cut to Faith, who had her wineglass in a stranglehold.
“If we hadn’t voted then,” he told her, “it would’ve been another three months before the next board meeting.”
Her lips parted in understanding. “And naturally Leo didn’t want any delays since BUILD is the perfect… camping program.”
“Hiking too,” Voit said, and Leo could cheerfully have throttled him when Faith tilted her head in his direction, widening her eyes in horror. “Hiking?” she mouthed, and Leo replied with the tiniest of shrugs.
“I’m just glad Mr. Morales finally found an acceptable application for Dig Greener,” Voit said. “Prior to yours, there wasn’t a single one he wanted to take in front of the board.”
“Lucky me,” Faith murmured. Unlike before, he couldn’t read her expression. His heart thundered in his chest. She was playing along the way he needed her to, but Voit had as good as told her that he’d gone above and way beyond to make this grant work for her.
You’re not friends. You’re not anything to each other.
“Lucky us.” Voit swirled the remains of his wine in the glass. “Your personal statement moved me, Ms. Fox. Such strong motivation to do this work.”
The topic shift froze Leo’s blood in his veins. Faith’s personal statement was the only document in the dozens of applications he’d reviewed that he hadn’t actually read. He’d only gotten through the first sentence, and it had sounded so much likeherthat it hurt to have her voice echoing in his brain, so he’d set it aside. But if Voit was mentioning it now…
Buzzing kicked up at the base of his skull. Had she done it again? Used him to tell her own fucking story for her own fucking benefit? Twelve years ago, he’d been dressed in his brand-new graduation-day shirt and tie, hands shaking as he realized that Franklin Fox hadn’t invited him into his study because he’d decided that Leo was worthy of dating his daughter. Instead Franklin had shoved the essay at him and thanked him for providing Faith with something of value during their relationship.
Something of value.Those words had haunted him for years. Had Faith managed to find value in him yet again to get what she needed for BUILD?
He dragged his eyes over to her, but she turned her head sharply toward the skyline, now purple in the twilight. Unaware of the tension crackling between the other two people at the table, Voit drained the rest of his glass and set it down on the metal table with a clang.
“I should run,” he announced. “Nice seeing you, Ms. Fox. As soon as you sign the paperwork, we can transfer the funds to your account. Give my best to your parents.”
“I will,” Faith said faintly as Voit dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table and strolled toward the exit, leaving the two of them alone again.
Leo didn’t let the silence sit for long.
“Did you write about me?”
“Of course not!” Angry color flooded her cheeks. “I told you back then, I didn’t even submit that essay. I felt terrible about it as soon as I finished it, so I wrote a new one that didn’t involve you at all.”
And her father had intentionally shown him the old one knowing exactly how he’d react. Leo’s head throbbed.
“Read my statement if you don’t believe me. I wrote about the importance of BUILD in a community like Beaucoeur.” Faith’s sigh sounded tired. “Speaking of. Am I correct that if I take a bunch of eleven-year-olds camping, I’ll get the grant money I need to keep my other BUILD activities up and running?”
He finished his drink and set his glass down next to Voit’s. They’d just lied to his new boss about how excited they were to work together. He was stuck with her now, so he might as well explain the thought process that had started this slow-moving train wreck in the first place.
“BUILD’s a good fit because of your existing relationships with the local schools.” Maybe if he focused on the work, the personal shit would take a backseat. “So Digham provides the funding, and you make connections with the students most likely to benefit from outdoor environmental education.”
She nodded, sucking her lower lip into her mouth and releasing it with a pop. “Someone else would be doing the bulk of the outdoor work, right? Creating the lessons, leading the expeditions, working with the kids?” She gave a shudder. “Hiking?”
“Yes.” He refused to be amused at her dramatic reaction. “Part of the grant is earmarked as salary for an outdoor education specialist who’ll be the liaison with Big Dig.”
Faith lifted her hands and let them fall, clearly frustrated, so he quickly added, “I have the name of someone who’d be perfect. We worked together for years in South America, and he’s looking to move back to the States. He’ll be free by the beginning of October.”
“And until then, who’s going to fill in?”
