Crossroads—2026-06-17 (Patreon)

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Chapter 152: OUTCOME FOCUS by Hannah Madison

Merritt likes to play mind games, which are always cute and almost equally annoying. It’s like his Gen Z version of dad jokes.

We were sipping our coffee in the elevator on the way up to the office. The car stopped at, like, the sixth floor, and two strangers got on.

That was when he went for it today.

Stone-faced, he sighed and looked at me. Then, with the perfectly dramatic delivery of a Tony Award-winning actor, he said, “I don’t know… It might be Wednesday, but it feels like the day before Thursday to me.”

About three seconds later, stranger number two snort-laughed, turned to us, and shook her head. “Hump Day will never be the same to me again.”

They got off a few floors later. Now here I am, using the Wi-Fi to get the latest information for the site visit I’m heading to.

I’m meeting with the general contractor’s buying manager and making sure the items they want to order meet specs. This doesn’t feel like engineering, but Will pointed out that we do what we have to do to make sure we get the best possible outcome.

“If it takes a few hours of hand-holding the buyer now to avoid ripping it all out and starting over six months from now, it’s worth it.”

I said I understood. I was halfway out the door when he called for me to stop.

I turned back and he pointed in the direction of the break room. “I was at the store last night. I picked up some snacks and put them in the far left cabinet in the break room.”

I didn’t know what to think about that—mystery afoot—so I smiled. “Okay, I’ll check it out.”

Seems like at least one of the firm’s partners has social media.

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