Then asked, "Are the workers going to be paid?"
I looked at him.
The question surprised me.
Out of everything I'd described, that was what he wanted to know first.
I explained the payment review and assistance arrangements.
He nodded.
"Good."
Then he asked, "What about the clothes?"
I smiled sadly.
"Some will need to be remade."
"Can they be?"
"Yes."
He nodded again.
"Then you've still got a collection."
I stared.
For a moment, I hadn't thought of it that way.
I had been focused on everything lost.
The launch.
The publicity.
The contracts.
The months of preparation.
My father leaned forward.
"Listen."
I met his eyes.
"When I was fixing machines, sometimes a factory manager would tell me he needed a machine running immediately."
I smiled faintly.
"I remember."
He continued.
"Sometimes the machine could be repaired quickly. Sometimes it couldn't."
He took a sip of water.
"And sometimes the manager would demand that I start it anyway, even when I knew it would damage the equipment."
I nodded.
"What did you do?"
My father smiled.
"Told him no."
I laughed.
He continued.
"Some of them got angry. Some threatened to call somebody else."
He shrugged.
"But if the machine wasn't ready, it wasn't ready."
He looked directly at me.
"Your show wasn't ready."
I took a breath.
"No."
"Then you did the right thing by stopping it."
My eyes filled.
He continued.
"That woman didn't create the problem when she threw money at you. She showed you what kind of person was asking you to ignore it."
I looked down.
For a long moment, I was silent.
Then I whispered, "I wish Mom was here."
My father smiled softly.
"She's waiting for your call."
I laughed through tears.
He reached across the table.
Then said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
"You built AVERY without that woman's money. Don't forget that just because she offered you more."
I squeezed his hand.
"Okay."
He smiled.
"And eat your fish before it gets cold."
I burst into laughter.
He picked up his fork.
For a while, we ate in comfortable silence.
And I began feeling like myself again.
The following week, I made the hardest business decision of my career.
AVERY would not attempt to salvage the canceled gala through a quick replacement event.