by CY Jones
“Nice of you to make it,” he snarks.
I don’t know what it is about this guy that always pushes my buttons, but I don’t stop myself when I say, “it is, isn't it?”
If looks could kill, I’d be dead. Lit on fire right in this very spot, because holy Hell is he ever pissed.
“Here’s a tip,” he says through clenched teeth. “Next time you want to fuck around all night, make sure you set your alarm so you won’t be late for your job.” He’s giving me a pointed look and when I follow his gaze, I see that my blouse is on inside out, indicating I’m at work, doing the walk of shame. My cheeks heat, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of my embarrassment, instead choosing to turn away and face the other man standing beside him with a smile on his face.
“Hi, I’m Paige,” I tell him, holding my hand out. He takes it and introduces himself as Marco, the lead foreman in Harrison’s crew.
I ignore Harrison as he shoots lasers at my back as we walk inside. Pausing in the threshold of the door, my mouth hangs open. This place was fucking magnificiant. The front doorway has this weird wall, but once you move past that, everything hits you right at once, it’s true potential staring you right in the eye. Since the house was high up on the hill, it had the most gorgeous views I have ever seen. Off in the distance, you can just make out the blue from the ocean close by. It was enough to distract me, so when Harrison’s deep voice says, “are you going to stand here all day or actually work?” I jump before I scowl at him. When did he move so close?
Rolling my eyes at him, I wake my iPad and pull up the floor plans I downloaded online for the home the other day. I didn’t have my trusty chalk on me since I left in such a rush, but I spied a pencil tucked behind Harrison’s ear. He eyes me as I walk closer to him and without asking, I pluck it from his ear and walk back over to the offensive wall in the walkway and draw a huge X on it.
“This looks like a load bearing wall, but I think from a designer aspect, it’s better to have it removed than keep it here."
“You added one grand to the budget just walking in,” Harrison replies.
“I know, but leaving it here is such an eyesore. With these views, it’s well worth the price to remove it.” Holding Harrison’s pencil in my mouth, I use my stylus to put a big X on the 3D wall on the screen and move on.
More than once I catch Harrison looking at my lips, most of the time when I’m chewing on his pencil. He can’t possibly be that possessive? He really should give it up. It has my teeth marks on it, so it’s definitely mine now. There’s another wall closing the living area off from the kitchen and I frown at it. Moving closer, I inspect the thing, but without opening up the wall, I can't tell if it’s load bearing.
“Can I see your sledge hammer?” I ask Marco.
Without complaint, he hands it over, but of course, Harrison has something to say about it.
“Do you know what you’re doing with that thing?” He growls. I open my mouth to give him a quick witted retort, but quickly shut it which is amazing since, thanks to my lateness, I haven’t had my morning coffee yet. Ignoring him, I take one hard swing at the wall as Harrison curses while Marco whistles impressed. Aiming higher, I swing again. There are wires in the wall, but as I look upwards, I don’t see anything to suggest it’s load bearing. Harrison steps beside me as he takes his own look. Taking the sledgehammer from me, he aims higher and off to the left. We both curse at what we see. The wall is supposed to be load bearing, but as of now, someone’s shotty work has nothing holding up the house in this spot as the support beam is missing.
“How much will a beam cost to hold the weight here if we get rid of the wall?” I ask.
“Five to seven grand, give or take,” Harrison answers.
"Well, something needs to be put here regardless. I’m surprised the house is still standing as it is.”
Both men hum in agreement and we move onto the kitchen and I ask Harrison, “how much?”
“Depending on how high end your design is I’d say twenty to twenty-five grand,” he answers. I agree with his assessment and we move on.
We move like this through each room. I’d ask Harrison his estimate and I’d jot things down on my iPad as we go. The house wasn’t as awful as I feared, but it did need a lot of work. Thank fuck it was mostly cosmetic. So far we have yet to run into any real problems like mold, lead, or asbestos. Knock on wood. I feared the worst after the ‘house is literally holding itself up with thin air’ incident.
In the master bedroom, I twirl around in the huge space and imagine myself in it. It was a nice size for the master, with enough space to have a comfortable sitting area next to the Juliet balcony. The view from here was of the hills with a strip of blue from the ocean line you could see far out on the horizon. Absolutely perfect for Jodie. I could just see her reading one of her nerdy journals here. I mock up the design on my iPad and move to the ensuite bathroom.
“Twelve grand,” Harrison replies before I could ask.
“Why so much?” I ask, raising my brow.
“This whole space needs to be gutted and Brian wants the set up rearranged, so we’re going to have to change the plumbing.” Nodding, I jot down what he says on my notes and move on.
It takes a good hour, but finally we finish the whole house, backyard included. Jodie wanted an inground pool placed out there as well as some kind of water feature and a fire pit. A hundred grand alone was going to be spent outdoors. So far with the estimate from the walk through I was already at a whopping 203k. Everything I was implementing would be environmentally friendly and well, sad to say, saving the environment cost money. The inside design was high end. I just needed to find out if the happy couple will want a modern or contemporary feel.
Alone, I walk back to the living area. I stand in the middle of the room and close my eyes. In my mind, I picture what this place would look like from my client’s perspective. It’s a thing I always do and seems to help me when I do my design and material choices. In my mind I can see a living wall with bright colors on the wall the sectional sits on, eco friendly lighting, and a chandelier show piece in the entryway on the high ceiling. Something quirky and artistic, just like the happy couple.
Jodie would want pallets in a beachy color, but I don’t want to do that. It’s a color scheme everyone in this area is already doing and I wanted their home to be different. To stand out. I think I can talk her into something more bold. In my head, the flowers of the living wall would be various colors of green and pops of color to represent how colorful Jodie and Brian are.
“I hope you haven’t fallen asleep,” Harrison’s deep voice permeates the room. When I open my eyes, he’s staring right at me.
Instead of engaging, I ask, “can you give me the address to your warehouse so I can pick up samples?” Saving the address in my phone, I turn for the door when his voice stops me.
“Are you forgetting something?” He asks.
“What?” I ask confused.
“My pencil.”
Really? I want to throw the chewed up thing at his head, but instead, I toss it over to him which he easily catches and slides back in place behind his ear.
“Happy now?” I mutter with my hands on my hips.
“Very. Oh, you might want to fix your shirt. We wouldn’t want people to think you’re unprofessional with your pink hair and inside out clothes.” Biting down a retort, I look him right in the eye as I pull the shirt over my head, turn it back the right way, then put it back on. Turning on my heel, I don’t stop all the way out to my Range Rover. Oh, my God, did I just do that? Not wanting him to see me freak out, I start the car and peel off towards the warehouse. I blame being uncaffeinated for my lack of judgement. On the way to the warehouse I make sure to stop by Starbucks for a grande coffee before I do something else just as stupid.
Harrison
I’m still staring at the door long after she starts her car and takes off. I swear the sight of her full breasts in her lacy black push-up bra will be forever i
mprinted in my brain. Fuck she’s hot, even in her inside out clothes. Her ex-husband is a fucking idiot.
Earlier, I was pissed she was late. The first fucking day and we were already having problems. It wasn’t until she stepped out of the car like a pink vision of beauty that I finally settled down, until I saw her clothes. Did she really just leave some dude’s house and come straight to work? Did me taking a chance on her mean so little? If she was anyone on my crew, they would have been fired right on the spot, and she had the nerve to not even be apologetic about it. Like some prim princess waiting on us to bow down to her.
Putting my ire aside, I have to admit I was quite impressed by her. She did seem like she knows her shit and, well, my dick may have twitched just a bit by seeing her swing that sledge hammer. The problem in the wall needs to be handled right away. This damn house can fall over any minute now, which is why none of my men will be demoing upstairs until I have a temporary support in place, holding the weight up.
I pull my pencil from behind my ear and stare at her teeth marks in the wood. Wishing those teeth were nibbling my neck. What the fuck is wrong with me? Obviously she’s having fun with someone else by her state of dress this morning, plus I doubt I could deal with her mouth, unless it was wrapped around my dick. At that thought, my cock twitches again and I have to reposition my jeans.
“Where do you want us to start, boss?” Marco asks, breaking me from my naughty thoughts.
“We’ll start demo downstairs first instead of being spread out throughout the house like usual. Have the guys put up a temporary support on this wall while I measure and order a new beam. I want everything done quickly so we can have a security system up and running as soon as the electrictrician rewires the house.”
“Sure thing, boss. I’ll put the new guy on that right away. Do you think we have to worry about being sabotaged here?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him running my hand through my hair. “Nothing has happened so far on the other work sites, but you can never be too safe. With Paige working with us, I don’t want her put in any danger because of this job.”
Marco nods and then says, “you know, that Paige chick is a real looker and seems to know her shit.”
“I haven’t noticed,” I mutter, lying through my teeth.
“You think she’s single?” He asks.
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask her yourself?” I answer, practically biting his ear off.
Seeing I’m not in the mood, he rallies the guys together and tells them what I want done. As I measure the wall, my mind drifts to Valentine P. I wonder if she’s figured out what I do for a living yet. When I woke up this morning, there wasn’t a message from her. I hope I didn’t scare her off with the cat comment and my dislike for them. Most women seem to like them. Why can’t there ever be a crazy dog lady? I’m sure if there were more Goldielocks in the world, there would be.
Sighing, I get back to work. Using my own sledgehammer, I take my frustrations out on demo. By the end of the day, my crew and I already had half the downstairs stripped to the studs, which is impressive with how huge this place is. Before I leave, I call the electrician, setting up an appointment for him to come in and I lock up and leave. In my truck, I check my phone and smile at the reply left by Valentine P.
Dear Cynical H,
You’ll never believe the day I had. Have you ever worked with someone you wanted to choke? I’m not usually a violent person, but that guy seems to bring out the worst in me. Lets see, where did we leave off? Are you an architect? I know with that job, without math, everything will fall apart.
One thing I did this weekend was I made a new friend. He’s flamboyant and absolutely gay, but he brings a smile to my face, which means a lot to me. The world is filled with horrible things and smiles are rare, so one should cherish it when you meet someone who can prompt one so easily.
What do I value most? Hard question. I’m not superficial or materialistic, so I wouldn’t say anything in that line. If I had to value anything, it would be love. Cheesy as that answer may be. Love is fleeting and, as human beings, we don’t always take the best care of it. To find that person, your person, is truly a gift, especially when there are so many duds out there being disguised as the real thing. Hinting to my own past, I was in a long term relationship that did not end well. I hope my words do not scare you away, but as you said before, this is all about honesty. If we can’t be honest online, it would never work in person.
Heavy topic aside, I laughed my ass off when you mentioned your friend’s cat. My bestie has an equally horrible feline and I pray they never meet. I’m not a cat person either, so you’re not alone in that endeavor. One day, I could see myself with a German Shepard or even a Golden Retriever, but like you, right now, I’m far too busy for a pet or kids. Hint, hint, I don’t have either of those things. So tell me, are you a beef or chicken kind of man, or *gasp* a vegan? If you could wish for one thing, what would it be? I hope your day goes well and I haven’t sent you running for the hills.
Valentine P
Glad to hear her say she doesn’t have any kids, that would definitely be a game changer. I’m not saying I don’t want any, I’m just not ready for them this point in my life and if this progressed into something more, I couldn’t be the man she needed. I hate someone has broken her heart. She didn’t say it, but you could feel the sorrow in her words. I’m also happy to hear she dislikes cats as much as I do. I’m no Brian, I’m not taking on any demon kitties.
I don’t reply until I get home. Today was a long day and I was exhausted. Briefly I wondered what Valentine P did for a living and who pissed her off. Each of her answers to my question was always absolutely perfect. Who is this girl and where has she been all my life? It’s only been a couple days, but I was already ready to meet. In a week and a half, I’ll be able to see if she’s the real deal or just another mistake.
Regret
Paige
The next day I avoid going back to the house. With demo taking place, they didn’t really need me there anyways, plus Jodie told me the whole house needed to be rewired, so that will take time. Instead, I set up a lunch appointment with Jodie to go over design ideas and show her the 3D mock up I made for her. I was downright giddy to show her my ideas. I had my jam back and, besides dealing with Harrison, this house project was just what I needed.
I spend the morning online, studying design ideas until it was time to meet up with Jodie. I kept the samples I got from Harrison’s warehouse in the back of my Range Rover and just needed to take my iPad. Unlike yesterday, I left with my clothes intact. I still can’t believe I changed my shirt right in front of Harrison like that. It isn’t in me to be so bold, but I’m starting to realize there are more sides to myself that had been stifled while I was with Justin. Everything with him was routine. We knew each other from the inside out, and I believe, maybe, that was what drove him to cheat on me. His way of looking for something new in his daily routine. I’m not making any excuses for him. What he did to me was messed up. I’m just now able to see the why’s behind it, which was a huge step to moving on.
I believe I owe this revelation to Cynical H. His messages are making me see things in a new light. This whole new concept of dating without seeing the person is interesting, to say the least. Parking outside the restaurant, I’m still smiling over his message he left me late last night.
Dear Siren,
Sorry you had a horrible day at work. I’m also dealing with someone I’m not so fond of. I think it comes with the territory, no matter what you do for a living. Sad to say, my pupil, you are wrong. I am not an architect, but you’re close. Keep at it and you may guess right.
I’ve never been in any kind of relationship, so I can’t say I feel your pain. I hate that someone hurt you. You could practically feel the pain bleeding through your words, but like you said, he was nothing but a dud disguised as the real thing. As for me, I hope hearing I haven’t been in a relationship doesn't scare you. I’ve spent my ad
ult life building my career and never really had the time for serious dating. When I finally did get to that place, it seemed like sharks and gold diggers were surrounding me. No one I’d actually see myself building a life with. I’m not a virgin and I’ve had hookups here and there, but nothing serious. When I meet that person, in your words my person, I’ll know and my leisurely flings will be of the past. I’m curious, are you that person? I can’t deny the closeness I feel to you. These messages have been the best thing in my life so far and I don’t even know what you look like. I hope you’re aching to meet me as I am you.
Now to the fun stuff. Can I answer all meat? I love to eat and I’m a big guy with a healthy appetite. Not the kind of big you’re thinking. I work out and my job is very rigorous, so no dad bod over here. Also I don’t have kids, nor do I want any right now. In the future, sure, but right now my life isn’t ready for that. If I can wish for one thing, it would be to meet you. It’s a wish that I have to be patient to achieve, but I know it will happen. Cocky of me, I know, but you have to be to get anywhere in this world.
Since you only asked two questions, I will volunteer a third. When I think of you I don’t see the innocent Disney version of The Little Mermaid, but the sexy siren who leads sailors to crash into rocky cliffs with her beautiful voice, but die happily after laying eyes on the most beautiful thing they have ever seen in their lives. Your words are luring me in, siren. I can’t deny this pull I feel towards you, and if you’re leading me to my destruction, I’d happily go.
Cynical H
“Why are you just sitting in your car with that goofy smile on your face?” Jodie asks. Shocked, I look at her. I was so caught up thinking about Cynical H, I didn’t hear her walk up and open my door.