What Lies Within by Karen Ball Page A

again. This was getting ridiculous! She was
not
an emotional woman. She tucked the photo back in place and noticed her hand was trembling.
    Stop it. You have no reason to be so upset. It’s been a good day. You’re doing your job, and doing it well. Dad’s business is everything he wanted it to be. You should be proud
.
    But she wasn’t.
    She pounded the palm of her hand against the steering wheel. What on earth was
wrong
with her? She should be ecstatic with the way things were going. She’d fought long and hard to make a place for herself in the world of construction, a business that was still very much a man’s business. And she’d succeeded. The workers who’d been so hesitant to accept her when she took over her father’s company now respected her, counting her one of their own. In fact, the men on the crew who’d worked with her dad had all but adopted her. It was like having a team of dads watching over her, counseling her. She loved it.
    And she loved the work. Loved creating welcome and a sense of home no matter the environment. Loved bringing what looked to the untrained eye like a confusion of lines on the blueprints to full, glorious life.
    Yes, she was her father’s daughter. Building was her passion.
    A fact her clients confirmed over and over. Gregory Belkins wasn’t the only customer who’d been delighted with her work. As far as she knew, all of her clients in the last ten years had only praise for Justice Construction.
    Yes, she still had to overcome what sometimes felt like an abundance of prejudices against a woman working in a male-dominated field. But Kyla had never let other people’s prejudices hold her back.
    So why, then, when things were going so great, was she sitting here feeling so miserable?
    It didn’t take long for the answer to come.
    She’d lost perspective.
    It was at the beginning of her second year with the company that her father took her up on the steel girders, high above ground. Amazingly, she feltno fear as she looked down at the ground far below. In fact, she felt safe there, with him. With God.
    Her dad waved a hand out at the city beyond. “Look out there, hon. All the people, all the hearts, longing to be touched. That’s what it’s about.” His large hand would come to rest against the upright. “These buildings, they’re just steel and concrete. Wood and wallboard. It’s not the buildings that matter: it’s the people you touch with what you create. What God helps you create.”
    She could still see his tender smile as he turned and laid his hand on her shoulder. “It’s about serving people, Kyla. Letting God use you to touch them.”
    She’d known, in those moments with the two of them together, that he was passing on more than just the tools to run his business. He was passing on his heart.
    When her father fell ill, though Kyla was only in her midtwenties, the mantle of leadership fell squarely on her shoulders. Her father remained involved, her constant advisor. But heart complications forced him out of the day-to-day operations. It hadn’t been easy. Not at all. But her dad had been a constant support, right up to his death nearly six years ago. During those last few months, she’d sit by his bedside and brief him on the events of the day, and nothing made her happier than to see that twinkle in his eye in response to something she’d handled well.
    “God has gifted you for this work, Kyla. And you’re using your gift well. I’m proud of you.”
    Her father’s words undergirded her when after his death, the employees questioned her ability to run Justice Construction … when during those first few months, clients pulled their projects, saying that without her dad, Justice Construction was on its way out.
    “I’ve run this company for years!” she’d stormed to Avidan and Annot. “And now not just the employees, but the clients doubt me?”
    “Give them time.” The quintessential sheriff’s deputy, Avidan was a man’s man, ready