I turned to Renee. She hadn’t moved.
Mrs. Harlow shook her head. “That’s not… You don’t understand. I was just trying to… the neighborhood has standards, and I thought—”
“Thought what?”
She opened her mouth, but no words came.
“You destroyed a wheelchair ramp built for a child.”
Another man stepped forward, older.
“We don’t want a CEO who destroys a child’s freedom to protect her ‘view.’”
The words hung heavy in the air.
Mrs. Harlow began shaking again.
“I didn’t know—” she started, then stopped.
Ethan squeezed my hand tightly.
“Mom… is she in trouble?”
I looked down at him. “Yeah. She is.”
Mrs. Harlow tried one last time. “Please. I’ve worked for this. You can’t base everything on one misunderstanding—”
“It wasn’t a misunderstanding,” the older man said. “It was a choice. We are rescinding your offer, effective immediately.”
Just like that.
Mrs. Harlow stumbled backward.
“You can’t—” she tried, but her voice broke.
The men turned to leave, but the first one paused.
“There’s one more thing.”
Mrs. Harlow looked up, pale.
The man glanced down the street—toward Caleb’s house.
“Your actions didn’t just disqualify you. They made something very clear to us. We need to do more for communities like these.”
He continued, “We’ve been looking for a site for a new community project.” He gestured toward the empty lot behind her home.
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