Chapter 2 - THE MAN BESIDE ME
I heard Dad from the hallway.
I had returned home ten minutes earlier and gone straight upstairs, carrying the roses in one arm and my diploma in the other.
No one had noticed.
“Play that part again,” Dad ordered.
The television rewound.
On-screen, Daniel Pierce handed me the bouquet while Principal Harris introduced him as a surprise guest representing the Pierce Foundation.
Dad stood so fast that the coffee table shook.
“Why was he at her graduation?”
Mom stared at the screen.
“Maybe the school invited him.”
“Pierce doesn’t attend public-school graduations.”
Tyler pulled the ice pack away from his knee.
“Who cares? Some rich guy gave Emma flowers.”
Dad turned on him.
“Daniel Pierce owns half the commercial development in this county.”
That was an exaggeration, but not a large one.
Pierce Technologies had begun as a software company and expanded into logistics, medical systems, and real estate. Daniel Pierce’s name was on hospitals, university buildings, and scholarship programs across the Midwest.
Dad’s construction company had spent three years trying to secure a subcontract on Pierce Technologies’ new regional campus.
The project was worth nearly forty million dollars.
I walked into the living room.
“He came because I invited him.”
Three faces turned toward me.
Mom looked me up and down, noticing the cap, gown, and flowers as though I had appeared in costume.
“You invited Daniel Pierce?”
“The foundation asked whether there was anyone I wanted present when they announced the scholarship publicly. I said yes.”
Dad’s voice sharpened.
“You’ve been communicating with him?”
“With his foundation. Mostly with the scholarship director.”
“For how long?”
“Seven months.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
I almost laughed.
“You never asked.”
Tyler limped toward the kitchen.
“Can we stop acting like she met the president?”
Dad ignored him.
“What exactly did Pierce say to you?”
“Congratulations.”
“What else?”
I looked at the television, where my own face had been paused beside Daniel’s.
“He offered me a summer position at the foundation before college.”
Dad went still.
“Doing what?”
“Research and program development.”
“In Chicago?”
“Yes.”
Mom recovered first.
“That’s wonderful, honey.”
Her voice had changed completely.
It was suddenly warm, proud, maternal.
“You should have told us.”
“This morning, Dad called my graduation a loser’s parade.”
Mom’s smile tightened.
“People say things when they’re stressed.”
“He wasn’t stressed. He was buttering toast.”
Dad stepped closer.
“Emma, this project with Pierce could change our family’s future.”
There it was.
Not my future.
Our family’s future.
“What project?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Then why are you worried about what Daniel said to me?”
Dad exhaled through his nose.
“Whitaker Construction is on the short list for the regional campus. Pierce personally approves the final contractors.”
“And?”
“And relationships matter.”
I stared at him.
“You want me to mention your company.”
“I want you to act like part of this family.”
“I asked you to act like part of mine tonight.”
Tyler stopped in the kitchen doorway.
Mom crossed her arms.
“That is not the same thing.”
“You’re right. Mine only required sitting in a chair.”
Dad’s face hardened.
“You think one viral speech makes you important?”
“No.”
I took off my graduation cap.
“But it proved I wasn’t invisible.”
He glanced at the flowers.
“Pierce has probably already forgotten your name.”
My phone rang in my hand.
The name on the screen was Daniel Pierce.
No one spoke.
I answered.
“Hello?”
His voice came through clearly in the silent room.
“Emma, I’m sorry to call this late. We need to discuss something before your internship begins.”
Dad moved closer, trying to hear.
May you like
Daniel continued.
“It concerns your father’s company.”
