by Lynn Galli
4 Natalie
Miguel looked at me like I was crazy. “You let him corner you into working two jobs at once? Because you know that’s what will happen, don’t you? You know that asshole is going to make you put in your regular hours over there and force your skinny behind right back here after hours.”
“Your not as skinny behind will be right there with me.”
“What? Hell, no.”
“It’s a six person job. Knowing Cal, he’ll only send four people. If I’m running it, I’m taking you with me. Or did you want to stay here and deal with Cal and Mini on your own?”
He made a sour face. He didn’t like either the owner or his son. They tended not to treat him well because he feigned not understanding English perfectly. It had worked for him. At least Cal didn’t expect a response when he yelled at him. “You better pick me on your crew. And we’re not spending any time back over here, either. Cal can just hire some other people.”
Knowing how stretched he was on this project, I doubted he’d hire anyone else. He was a payment behind on the loan for this townhouse complex already. The thirty-five percent profit on a project Vivian’s size would get him current here. I secretly hoped she’d reject the bid, even if the prospect of working with her was exhilarating.
“When does it start?”
“As soon as the designer and homeowner sign off on the bid. If they sign off.”
“We’d be working with a designer? Ehh.”
Not once he sees her, he won’t be thinking that. Didn’t matter that he had a pretty wife who made him very happy. Vivian was the kind of woman that could make anyone take notice.
“We don’t have the job yet.”
Miguel’s brow pinched. “Ever wish we didn’t have to deal with being pulled around like puppets? Or that some of these guys on the crew actually did their part of the job?”
I nodded. It was a lot to wish for, especially on an established construction crew. People fall into the same habits day after day. Two guys do the work of six others, and those six perpetually take breaks or create more work. The bosses never lift a nail gun and always order the wrong supplies. When the client shows up, they’re never around to deal with the freak outs. Yeah, construction work, living the glamorous life, but it’s what I know and do well. Same for Miguel.
“Harp!” Cal’s voice called from outside.
I waited for him to come inside before responding. Sometimes he just expected us to jump when he was usually full of bluster over nothing. In eight years of working for him, I’d yet to run into a crisis worth hopping to.
“Shit! You two aren’t done with the drywall yet?” Cal walked through the door, carrying a heater that would assist in drying the mud, one of the reasons we weren’t done. “I’m beginning to doubt my faith in you, Harpy.”
I hated when he or anyone else on the crew called me Harpy. They thought it was funny to address the only woman on their crew as a harpy even if they justified it with my last name. “I told you before you sent me on that estimate that we’d be a day behind here.”
“Stop bitching. That’s all you ever do.” He laughed like that was funny and not insulting. “Good job on that estimate. The client went for it. You’ll start over there in a week. I’ll get you the adjusted budget on Sunday night. You’ll need to put in overtime here until you have this place done. I’m not leaving this one hanging until you finish over there.”
Miguel started swearing in Spanish. Cal ignored him like he usually did. He never bothered to learn Spanish despite half his crew speaking it.
“You want us to finish three weeks of work by Sunday night?”
“I’ll pay time and a half. It’s not like you’re working for free.”
It would be a minimum of fifteen hour days to get this done. “Give us another guy, and we’ll get it done.” I knew Miguel wouldn’t mind the extra work this week. His wife had taken the kids to visit her parents. Time and a half would pay for his annual vacation and boost my salary back up to its pre-housing market crash level before Cal cut it.
“Take one of the others that only speaks Spanish.”
Man, he was a dick sometimes. “Ramón.” I knew Ramón wouldn’t mind being jerked from one jobsite to the next. Right now he was working a remodel project with Ryan. The boss’s son ranked just below working with the boss himself.
“Just get it done, and get your coat. We’re headed over there now to walk through the new jobsite. There are some changes I’ve made to your estimate.”
I tried not to glare at him. Of course he made changes to my estimate. His jacked up price probably forced many cuts to the work to be done. I didn’t have time to deal with this today, and he knew it. But gauging his mood, I sensed it wouldn’t do to push back right now. He was beyond stressed and salivating at the chance to bring in more money.
I turned to Miguel. “Grab Ramón and get the second coat done today. I’ll be back to put in the cabinets tonight.”
“Está bien. Hasta luego.” Miguel waved and pulled out his phone to get help.
“Why don’t they speak English on the jobsite? How hard is that?” Cal muttered as he led me out to his truck.
Idiot.
We drove mostly in silence. Cal had stopped trying to get me to talk when we were alone. We had nothing but the jobs to talk about, and we’d been working together so long I already knew what he wanted without his having to ask.
“Nice place,” Cal commented when we pulled into the new client’s driveway. “Seems familiar.”
“We worked on the house back there.” I pointed over my shoulder to Glory’s house at the end of the street.
“Right, sure,” Cal said, but I doubted he remembered it. “Shit, what’s the name of the decorator? She’s meeting us here.”
I watched him dig around the backseat of his truck looking for my estimate with the designer’s name. If I weren’t in a hurry to get back to the other jobsite, I’d let him dig for two hours. His cab was a mess but warm. “Vivian.”
“Right, yeah. A hot piece. We’ve worked together many times.”
Then why didn’t he remember her name? It’s not like she’s forgettable. A hot piece? What an ass.
The door opened before we got to it. Gorgeous Vivian had been waiting for us. “Hi, Natalie, Cal.”
“Vivian, you get better looking every time I see you.” Cal kissed her cheek, and she somehow managed to keep her clothes on. “I wanted to give Natalie the breakdown on what to do and when to do it.”
“Sure.” She smiled thinly.
I wondered how many times they’d worked together. I’d been running his housing developments for the past few years instead of working construction projects. We’d never had occasion to meet. Her tight smile indicated she wasn’t a huge fan of Cal’s.
We went through to the guestroom that would be turned into a guest suite. Cal waved off Vivian as he started barking out orders. It was clear within ten minutes that he was trying to save as much money as possible on this job. He was asking for substandard materials and didn’t want to sub out the expert work. I shook my head, knowing I wouldn’t follow his direction.
By the time we were done, I was feeling less confident about this job. With the cuts he was proposing, he’d use this job to fund not one but three of his current loans. I hated shady crap like that. If after the first payment, he gave me hell about the actual spending, I’d start pushing back. I wouldn’t let him compromise my work ethic just to save some money.
“We should be done in two weeks, right, Harpy?” Cal ended his instructions with yet another fantasy of how this job would go.
Vivian had been scribbling on her grid pad the whole time. She hadn’t voiced any discontent, but the timeline drew her eyes down to slits. “Now, Cal, you know we’ve had this issue before. How long will it really take?” Her eyes stayed on him for a moment before flipping over to look at me. I wouldn’t lie. She must have figured that out.
“Might be a little longer. Harpy here will get you
the real timeframe once she starts. When we tear down walls, things might present themselves that we didn’t plan for.”
Vivian pressed her lips into a thin line. She was as sharp as she was beautiful. “Cal, we’ve worked together for many years. You’re my go-to contractor. You know damn well your estimate included a top end due to problems that may occur.”
Cal stepped back, his hand going over his heart. “Vivian, Vivian, my love, you know I’d never cheat you. The estimate is thorough to all foreseeable problems; I assure you.”
Schmoozy, self-involved, shysty asshole. If he asked me to make up an unforeseen problem halfway through this job, that was it. I’d be done with him. I’d had to talk him out of a lot of stuff over the years, but my patience was ready to snap. His money troubles were his problem. I wouldn’t go out of my way to help him anymore. If I had to, I could move back to Boulder where I started my construction career and get on a crew there.
He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Harp will be the construction manager. She’ll start on Monday morning.”
“Will the homeowner be here the first day?” I asked.
“Yes, but,” Vivian began, but I knew what she was going to say.
“I know you’re running the project, but I like to make sure the homeowner knows what she will see as the project progresses. It can be startling to see construction partway done every night when she gets home.”
Vivian gave me another full wattage smile. I think that comment pushed me even higher in her esteem than the worry I’d had for the homeowner’s dogs.
“You all work that out on Monday. We have to get back to another site. Harp, give Viv one of your cards.” Cal laughed like it was funny that I didn’t have a business card. He thrust one of his own at me and told me to jot down my cellphone in place of his. Jeez, he really was going to wash his hands of this project.
“I’ll see you Monday morning, Natalie,” Vivian said, not looking concerned that Cal wouldn’t be around.
Maybe she had worked with him a lot recently.
5 Vivian
Samantha waved a pink slip in my direction as I came through the doors of my design studio. “The dragon called again.”
I laughed, which felt good after the weird meeting with Cal and Natalie. His behavior was getting stranger. He was preoccupied, abrupt, and more concerned about when the checks came in than the work he was doing. Now it looked like he’d start fobbing off my projects onto his underlings. Not that it wouldn’t be interesting to work with Natalie. Lucky even, considering she seemed capable and realistic. Fortuitous actually, since I’d been hoping to run into her again and here she’d just shown up on my client’s doorstep.
“I’ve tried every polite way of telling that woman we’re not going to be able to take on more work, but she doesn’t seem to hear me.” Samantha twirled the pen she held to calm her frustration.
“Just tell Dwight to call her. He said he’d have time for her project.” In fact he said he’d appreciate the business. It was usually slow for us once the snowbirds left after the holidays. Things didn’t start picking up until the snow melted when those same snowbirds would want things redone for the next ski season.
“She only wants to talk to you. She must have you, Vivian,” Samantha attempted a bad impression of the dragon.
“Well, she’s going to get Dwight. Next time she calls set up a time when I can bring Dwight with me. She’ll love him once she meets him.”
“Won’t you owe him big time for that?”
“I always owe Dwight for something.” Which was true. Ever since he followed me back to Aspen from design school in New York, we were constantly picking up the slack when one of us was busy or offering second opinions on works in progress. Kinda like having a business partner without any of the arguments.
“How’s the new client?”
“You’ve met Lena, haven’t you?”
“Sure, but I meant how is she as a client?”
Her question made me smile. Samantha was the perfect blend of assistant, designer trainee, and friend. She’d been my saving grace when the economy collapsed. Hired as my receptionist, she mostly kept the clients happy on the phone while I was juggling six projects at once with a full staff of design associates. Once the work dried up, the staff left for Denver to find steady work at a larger firm. Samantha stuck with me, taking on other duties, eager to learn the business of design. I scaled back my workload to something more manageable, which allowed me to appreciate the work almost as much as I appreciated Samantha.
“What’s up with Cal by the way?” She brushed her newly cut bangs off her forehead. She was still getting used to them, but we both agreed the bob cut flattered her square face. “I’ve called him four times over the last week, and he couldn’t be bothered to return my call.”
“I was wondering the same thing. You should have heard him on the jobsite today talking to his foreperson. Some of the materials he was talking about sounded like he was making up the brands. I’m going to have to talk with Lena about how she wants to handle purchasing construction supplies.”
Her dark brown eyebrows drew together. “You think he wouldn’t get the supplies you specified?”
“I think it’s possible he might throw up substandard materials before I can get out there that day to inspect it. Yeah.” I felt guilty accusing Cal of something I hadn’t yet seen him do. It didn’t matter that he’d forgotten to use insulation on an exterior wall or cement board in the bathrooms on our last job together. I’d been there to correct the oversights, but I had to wonder if he’d done it on purpose to save money. The look on Natalie’s face when he’d given a few instructions told me all I needed to know about her doubts.
“I thought we liked Cal?”
“You asked the question. You must have had a reason.”
She looked even more guilty than I felt. “Dwight might have said something the last time we chatted. He thinks Cal’s up to something. He’s definitely not putting in the same kind of work he used to.”
A heavy sigh pushed out of me. “I don’t want to have to look for a new contractor. The woman he’s got running Lena’s project seems incredibly capable. Maybe she can be the buffer for us.” I crossed my fingers. I was hoping she’d be a lot more than a buffer. More like a trusted ally in the building process.
“Let’s hope.”
“Hope what?” Dwight asked as he pushed through the door. He was carrying three takeout containers and my favorite coffee beverage. He did this sometimes, showed up for lunch, bringing it with him and always making sure to include Samantha. Really considerate. Too bad he wasn’t a lesbian.
“Hey, Dwight, your ears must have been burning,” Samantha extracted two of the bags and set them on a design table so we could eat together.
“I’m always sizzling, Sammi.” Dwight was the first to laugh, as usual. He never cared if he was the one making the joke or someone else.
As he took a seat, I noticed he’d also gotten his hair cut. Samantha probably dragged him to the salon with her and talked him into a cut. He wouldn’t be happy that the close crop showed more grey at his temples. He didn’t like that he was going grey before he turned forty. He complained about the unfairness of our hair follicles. Being the same age, my brown hair was still brown and covered my head. His brown was starting to pepper and thinned in a significant spot on the crown of his head. He still looked dapper and youthful in my opinion, but he saw what he saw, and his friends wouldn’t convince him otherwise.
“Used Cal for anything lately?” I asked as he slid the container with a mini quiche toward me. It looked so much better than the sandwich I’d made this morning for lunch.
“His last three bids were outrageous so I had to use that idiot Burt and sub out myself.”
I wasn’t surprised. At Lena’s we had to cut the mudroom, dog room, custom closet shelving, and some of the nicer bath features when Cal’s estimate came in much higher than expected. I’d done everything I could to manipulate my fee
and the materials to give her what she wanted, but his costs ate up almost all of her total budget. I could have asked Burt for a bid, but my experience with his crew wasn’t as successful as Dwight’s had been.
“He just handed off a lucrative contract to his construction manager. I doubt I’ll see him for the next six weeks.”
“Is he good at least?” His eyes showed interest.
“She,” I stressed, “seems like she knows more than he does.”
“Well, hot damn. When you’re done with her, send her to me.” He winked, knowing he’d check with me before he tried to get her to work on any of his projects. We respected each other like that. It was bad for business to have a project delayed because the contractor was tied up with another designer.
“Please, if she’s that good, Viv will have her booked for the next three years,” Samantha told him.
“I’ll dance you for her,” Dwight offered, making us smile. He was a beautiful dancer. Good enough that he’d given Broadway a try while we were in design school together.
One Saturday a month, he and I would go out dancing at the local bars. Under his tutelage I’d learned many styles. We’d even competed in a salsa contest in Denver once. It was fun and an excellent way to blow off client frustration.
He knew damn well that I’d never stand a chance against him in a dance off. I wasn’t about to risk losing a competent contractor to my less than stellar dance skills. Not to mention I was looking forward to getting to know the no longer mystery woman from the store. Anyone with that forgiving a nature seized my interest.
6 Vivian
A soft melodic chime sounded when I pressed Lena’s doorbell. I was eager to get started on this project. Any assignment that created a comfortable and functional space always interested me more than mere beautification of a room. I’d been in something of a rut redoing already nice rooms for the last year. I hadn’t realized that I’d been aching to apply both my design and transformation skills to a space for some time now. If it helped a friend, all the better.
Or friends, I should say, as the door opened to reveal Glory. “Morning, Vivian. You look nice today.”