Chapter Ten-Riley
1831 Words
By the time Riley got home that evening, he was exhausted.
Not the kind of exhaustion that made him miserable.
The good kind.
The kind that came after a long day of work where, despite everything that had to be done, something had gone right.
He placed his tablet on the dining table and dropped into his chair.
His mother looked at him from across the room.
“You’re tired.”
Riley smiled.
“Very.”
She laughed softly.
“How did it go?”
Riley knew exactly what she meant.
“Good.”
“Just good?”
Riley shook his head.
“No.”
He leaned back in his chair.
“Actually, very good.”
His mother smiled.
“Vincent came?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Riley’s smile grew.
“He liked it.”
“I knew he would.”
Riley laughed.
“You didn’t even see it.”
“I know you.”
His mother walked toward the table and sat across from him.
“So tell me.”
Riley picked up his tablet.
“He came to the building this morning.”
“Did he see everything?”
“Not everything. Only the parts we’ve finished so far.”
“How much?”
“Forty percent.”
His mother nodded.
“That’s a lot.”
“It is.”
Riley opened some of the photographs on his tablet.
“He saw the lobby first.”
His mother looked at the screen.
“And?”
“He liked it.”
Riley swiped.
“The reception area too.”
Another photograph.
“The waiting area.”
Another.
“The conference room.”
His mother smiled.
“Everything looks beautiful.”
Riley nodded.
“I tried to make it look exactly like the original concepts.”
His mother looked at him.
“Exactly?”
“As close as possible.”
“Why?”
Riley paused.
“Because that’s the point.”
His mother tilted her head.
Riley placed the tablet down.
“When I showed him the concepts, I wasn’t just showing him pretty pictures.”
He spoke slowly.
“I was showing him what I believed the building could become.”
His mother nodded.
“So when we actually started working on it, I didn’t want the final result to look completely different from what I promised.”
He looked down at his hands.
“I wanted him to walk into the building and recognize what I had shown him.”
His mother smiled.
“And he did?”
“Yes.”
Riley’s face brightened.
“He actually looked around and said he liked it.”
His mother laughed.
“I knew you were going to be happy about that.”
“I was.”
Riley smiled.
“Very.”
There had been something satisfying about watching Vincent walk through the lobby.
Riley had watched his face carefully.
Not because he needed praise.
But because he wanted to know whether Vincent could see what Riley had seen when the building had been nothing but empty walls.
And he had.
That mattered.
Because this project wasn’t just another job.
It was bigger than that.
Riley looked at his tablet again.
“The project has been going well.”
His mother nodded.
“Any problems?”
“A few.”
“What kind?”
“Mostly logistics.”
Riley counted them off on his fingers.
“Some shipments were delayed. A few materials took longer than expected. There were some procurement issues.”
He shrugged.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“And everything else?”
“Fine.”
His mother smiled.
“Good.”
Riley leaned back.
“My secretary has been amazing.”
“I know.”
“She keeps everything moving.”
“That’s why you hired her.”
“Exactly.”
He laughed.
“There are days when I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her.”
His mother smiled.
“That’s what good people around you are for.”
Riley nodded.
The truth was, the project had required everyone.
His own team.
The construction company.
The installers.
Suppliers.
Procurement.
His secretary.
Even the people handling shipments and customs.
Everyone had to work together.
One delay affected another person.
One wrong measurement could affect an entire room.
One late shipment could change an installation schedule.
It was complicated.
But Riley loved it.
Maybe more than he should.
His mother studied him.
“You really like this project.”
Riley looked up.
“Yes.”
“That much?”
Riley smiled.
“That much.”
He picked up his tablet again.
“Mom, this building was completely blank.”
“I remember.”
“There was nothing.”
He scrolled through the old photographs.
“Look.”
His mother looked.
Walls.
Empty rooms.
Bare floors.
Nothing else.
“This was what I saw when I first went there.”
He showed her the new photographs.
“And this is what we have now.”
His mother looked at the comparison.
The difference was obvious.
The old building looked lifeless.
The new spaces looked warm.
Intentional.
Finished.
“Wow,” she said softly.
Riley smiled.
“Exactly.”
His mother looked at him.
“So why does the blank canvas matter so much?”
Riley thought about the question.
Then he answered honestly.
“Because that’s where the designer has to put everything.”
His mother listened.
“When you’re given an empty space, you don’t have someone else’s design to work from.”
Riley continued.
“You have to create the structure in your head first.”
He tapped his temple.
“You have to imagine where everything belongs.”
“The colors.”
“The materials.”
“The lighting.”
“The furniture.”
“The movement.”
“The atmosphere.”
“Everything.”
His mother nodded.
“And then you have to make it real.”
“Exactly.”
Riley smiled.
“That’s the difficult part.”
He leaned forward.
“Anybody can look at a beautiful finished room and say, ‘That’s nice.’”
He laughed softly.
“But creating that room from an empty space?”
He shook his head.
“That’s different.”
His mother smiled proudly.
“And you wanted to prove you could do it.”
Riley was quiet for a moment.
“Yes.”
He didn’t deny it.
“This project can speak for me.”
His mother understood immediately.
“Your future projects.”
“Exactly.”
Riley looked down at the tablet.
“When people see this headquarters, they’re going to see my work.”
He paused.
“If I do it well, they know what I’m capable of.”
“And if you don’t?”
Riley looked at her.
“I don’t want to think about that.”
His mother laughed.
“But you’re being realistic.”
“I have to be.”
Riley sighed.
“Business is business.”
He wasn’t doing this simply because Stanley Corporation was paying him well.
Of course the money mattered.
It was a business.
But money wasn’t the only thing keeping him awake at night.
He cared about the work.
He cared about his name being attached to it.
He cared about delivering what he had promised.
And most importantly, he cared about proving that his ideas could exist outside a sketchbook or a presentation.
He wanted people to walk into the finished headquarters and understand what he had envisioned from the beginning.
That was what motivated him.
His mother reached across the table and touched his hand.
“You’ve always been like that.”
Riley looked at her.
“Like what?”
“Dedicated.”
She smiled.
“Once you decide something matters, you don’t do it halfway.”
Riley laughed.
“That’s probably why I’m always tired.”
“Probably.”
He smiled.
His mother looked at him carefully.
“And Vincent?”
Riley raised an eyebrow.
“What about him?”
“Was he happy?”
Riley smiled.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
He remembered Vincent standing in the lobby.
The way he had looked at the reception area.
The conference room.
The executive offices.
He had looked at everything carefully.
He hadn’t rushed.
He had actually paid attention.
And when they were leaving, he had said:
You’ve done well.
Riley had remembered those words all afternoon.
Not because he needed validation.
But because he knew Vincent didn’t say things he didn’t mean.
His mother smiled.
“That’s good.”
Riley nodded.
“He was impressed.”
“And you?”
“What?”
“Are you satisfied with the work?”
Riley looked at the tablet again.
He smiled.
“Not yet.”
His mother laughed.
“Of course not.”
“It’s only forty percent.”
“Forty percent is still something.”
“I know.”
Riley closed the tablet.
“But I want the whole building finished.”
His voice became more determined.
“I want everything to be done properly.”
His mother nodded.
“How long?”
“Four to five months.”
“That’s ambitious.”
“I know.”
“But possible?”
Riley smiled.
“Yes.”
His mother shook her head.
“You really are serious about this.”
Riley laughed.
“Very.”
He stood from the table.
“I have work to do.”
His mother stared at him.
“Riley.”
“What?”
“You just came home.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been working all day.”
“I know.”
“And you’re going back to work?”
Riley smiled innocently.
“Just for a little while.”
His mother sighed.
“That’s what you said yesterday.”
“And the day before.”
“And the day before that.”
Riley laughed.
“Okay.”
She pointed at him.
“Don’t stay up all night.”
“I won’t.”
“You said that yesterday too.”
“I mean it this time.”
His mother shook her head.
Riley picked up his tablet.
As he walked toward his room, he looked down at the photographs one more time.
Forty percent.
It wasn’t finished.
There was still so much to do.
But he was proud.
Not because the project belonged to Stanley Corporation.
Not because Vincent Stanley had approved it.
And not because the contract was large.
He was proud because an empty building had started becoming something.
Something he had imagined.
Something he had drawn.
Something he had planned.
Something he had fought through delays and long nights to create.
And Riley knew exactly what he wanted.
He wanted the finished headquarters to look at least as good as the picture in his head.
Maybe even better.
Because this wasn’t just a project anymore.
It was his work.
His vision.
His reputation.
A piece of himself.
And Riley Rosewood was determined to make sure it was something worth remembering.
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