I grew tired of people treating me like a balance sheet.

I bought this place under my own name and worked at the lumberyard because I wanted to remember what production looked like outside a boardroom.”

“That doesn’t explain why you met Marlene.”

“No.

A colleague asked me to look at a struggling regional textile business.

I’d already begun reviewing a possible rescue investment when your stepmother contacted the lumberyard.

She didn’t know who I was.

I recognized the Langford name and wanted to know why someone connected to the company was asking a stranger to marry the founder’s daughter.”