by Lynn Galli
“Did she say why?” Lena asked.
“She wanted to finish up what they’d been working on when Cal ordered her to leave.”
Now that’s dedication. This woman really should own her own business.
Glory let her in as soon as the doorbell rang. She smiled shyly as she joined us. She looked down at her work pants and the sofa, but Glory waved her down.
“I wanted to apologize again for Cal’s decision. I tried to talk him out of it, but I don’t have a lot of influence.” She glanced at me then Lena. “I’d like to finish the framing of the guest bathroom so you can call in a plumber instead of another construction crew right away.”
“That’s a generous offer, Natalie,” Lena told her.
“I feel bad. Cal’s not himself these days. I didn’t want to leave you hanging.”
“He told you he called the other crews, didn’t he?” I asked, trying to confirm my suspicions.
“What other crews?” Glory asked.
“When I called the other contractors who could take on this scope of work, they were all too busy to even come out for an estimate.”
“I’m sorry,” Natalie said again. “I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“What a putz,” Lena said.
“I can make some calls in a week. They might be ready to budge by then. Cal’s promising things he won’t be able to follow through on.” Natalie looked off as if she were the one who felt the shame Cal should be feeling.
“Not a good way to do business,” I said.
“No,” Natalie agreed.
“Which brings us to why you haven’t gone out on your own yet, Nat?” Glory asked with that charming smile that could convince vampires to walk into sunshine.
Natalie’s eyes widened as she looked at each of us. “Lots of reasons.”
“Which are?” Glory was talking to an acquaintance about something that would normally excite or scare most people, but her calm demeanor settled over us all.
“I don’t think I could go out and get business. That’s one thing that Cal does well.”
Glory lifted a finger and wiggled her eyebrows for more reasons.
“I’m not business minded. I’ve seen lots of contractors lose their shirts because they can’t figure out the financial end of it.”
Glory held up another finger.
“I wouldn’t even know how to go about starting a business.”
Glory held up a third finger and waited for more. When Natalie just looked at her, she said, “I’ve got two of the three covered. You remember that I’m an accounting nerd, right?”
“A beautiful accounting nerd,” Lena inserted.
“Relevant, thanks, honey,” Glory deadpanned. “It’ll take me a half hour to find out licensing requirements for contractors and another half hour to fill out the standard business licensing forms. I’ve helped a gazillion clients start businesses. It’s kinda what I do.”
“And other nerdy accounting stuff,” Lena supplied helpfully again.
“Thank you, darling.”
“Should I be concerned that an accountant is using made up numbers?” Natalie joked.
I laughed loudly. Everyone turned surprised looks at me. The joke had been amusing but not gut busting. Stress could do that to me, though. At least it wasn’t inappropriate this time. It was also refreshing to find out that Natalie had a good sense of humor. She’d been so focused at work I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see it.
“You okay there, Viv?” Lena asked, pursing her lips to keep from joining my laughter.
“Cal is a dickhead,” I said by way of explanation.
This time Natalie gave a sharp laugh. Just one, but it sounded nice. “He shouldn’t have done what he did.”
“Which is why you should consider starting your own company.” Glory gave an endearing smile to bring us back on track. “I can set you up with an accounting program that will handle the financial end of things. After that it’s a matter of getting clients.”
“You already have your first,” Lena said.
I jumped in, hoping to encourage her without adding pressure. “Half my projects are usually renovations, same with another designer friend of mine. We could definitely keep you busy.”
“You all make it sound so easy.” Natalie looked a little overwhelmed.
“Do you want to own your own construction company?” Glory asked.
“It would be nice not having another contractor breathing down my neck.”
“Leave that to the uptight clients,” I kidded.
“So really, it’s just a matter of paperwork at this point.” Glory smiled brightly. She was damn cute with the way she could strip everything down to its core as if nothing was that big a deal.
“I’ll think about it,” Natalie promised her.
“Keep in mind that a lot of your personal expenses will become deductible. That’s a huge tax savings every year. Almost a no brainer here.”
We all laughed at how easy Glory made this whole thing seem. Maybe to someone with her background, but I knew what Natalie would be facing. It was encouraging to see that she hadn’t shut down the idea right away.
8 Natalie
Cal was yelling at my guys again. His son had pulled two others aside for yelling in stereo. Why did these lunkheads think that yelling would get the work done faster or better? The only thing it did was make the guys not want to work faster or better.
All week I’d been thinking about Glory’s offer to help start a business of my own. It had been at the back of my mind when I’d been yanked from one jobsite to the next, cleaning up Cal’s inefficiencies and downright stupidity. I really had no idea how he’d managed to stay in business. His recent work had become slapdash, and I often found myself embarrassed at the finished cookie cutter product.
I still felt bad that I’d had to walk off Vivian’s job. That just didn’t sit right with me. Even without knowing and liking Glory, I’d want to do good work for Lena. She was a nice lady, who was opening her home to her grandparents. That said a lot about a person.
Yet here I was on Cal’s latest development, trying desperately to rally my troops to finish this townhome so he could put it on the market. I was putting out all the fires that Cal had started these past three weeks. The only good news of the week came when I called Vivian to see how the project was going. She’d found an independent plumber to do the rough-ins. It would lengthen the project time but keep it progressing.
“Harpy!” Cal yelled. “Explain to these workers that every mistake they make costs me money.”
“What mistakes?”
“That knee wall is five inches too tall, and they forgot two electrical receptacles.”
I tipped my head at Miguel. He grabbed the plans and brought them over. I spread them out in front of Cal. “The wall is supposed to be that height, and there’s no indication on this plan for two other receptacles.”
“We discussed it last week when you weren’t here.”
“Why aren’t the changes marked on the plan or on a change order?”
“Enough with the back talk, Harpy. I’m bleeding money every time you open your mouth!”
It would be so nice to tell him to shove his job, but could I really do it? I wasn’t like Glory. As much as she kidded about being a nerd, she really was. Running her own business was easy for her. I had enough savings to carry me a for a while, but I’d be putting my dream home on the line. Was it worth it? To be free of Cal or any other lunkhead I might work for in the future? Every time he opened his mouth, I had to think it was.
I didn’t bother to respond. Cal’s blowups were always temporary. It didn’t take long until he moved his tirade to the townhouse next door.
“Loco,” Miguel said to me as soon as he heard Cal begin to shout over there.
“Yep.”
“I wish we were back at Lena’s house with Vivian.”
“Me, too.”
“It was so quiet and calm there.”
“Yep.”
“Any chance she’ll call us back in to finish up?”
None. She’d still been spitting mad about Cal when I talked to her on Wednesday. “Doubt it.”
“But you have something in mind?” He pulled me into the unoccupied kitchen.
I wasn’t sure I should say it out loud, or I might decide one way or the other too fast. “My accountant friend is encouraging me to start my own contracting biz.”
Miguel’s eyes widened. Excitement came over his face. Two beats later it was replaced by a frown. “Like a one woman shop?”
“Like the kind of business that could handle projects like Vivian’s.”
“You’d need at least one full time employee.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
“Really?” I nearly yelped. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t overheard and lowered my voice. “You’d really want to leave with me?”
“If you weren’t here, I’d have been long gone. The wife says she’s fine with me being a househusband until I can get on with another contractor.”
A fallback sounded nice, so did having someone to rely on and support my decisions. I’d never had it. Miguel was so lucky to be in that position.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “It’s scary to think about keeping busy enough to stay afloat.”
“You’re better at the client sales than you think. I bet if Viv likes the finished product, she’d bring you on for her other projects.”
I tucked my chin against my chest, remembering the intervention she, Lena, and Glory had put me through. I doubted other potential new contractors had that kind of encouragement. “She might have mentioned that.”
His eyes popped wide as his hands came up to grip my arms. “With her jobs, all you’d need to do is get in good with a realtor who can throw repairs your way and you’d be set.”
“I’m thinking about it. Glory said she’d help with the recordkeeping end of it.” That was one of the most daunting parts. If she could make it as easy as she said, it might be the best career move I could ever make.
“A CPA is willing to help you, and a designer will bring you in on projects? You have to at least consider it.”
“You’re right. I’ll call Glory and see what she says.” I could listen to her analysis. I could even sit through the contractor’s exam to find out if I could get licensed. Neither step committed me one way or the other. It wouldn’t hurt to try.
“Have her assume you’ll have at least one employee.”
I laughed. It felt good to have his reassurance. With Glory’s help, I might be able to pull this off. The notion was exciting. Almost as exciting as being able to work with Vivian again.
9 Vivian
Molly wore what I called her angry look. My friend of many years was very protective. It angered her that my stupid contractor was acting stupidly. Angered her so much she was threatening to go over to his latest subdivision and start ripping walls apart.
“Mol,” I said, trying for calm. “Cal’s a jerk, but he has every right to walk off a job. I should have realized that his high quote meant he didn’t have time to finish the job. It should have been a red flag.”
“But he gave you a bid. What a frickin’ dick.” She wiped angrily at her cropped hair. Once, she’d let it grow out past her collar, and I thought it looked great. She thought it looked too femmie. With the harsh planes of her face, she often looked angry when she wasn’t. No one would ever accuse her of looking femmie. When she smiled, though, she’d go from angry butch to attractive androgynous in a flash. The look had an appeal, not for me, but she’d never suffered loneliness with the women.
“What’s got you so riled, Molly?” Jenna, our waitress and occasional ski buddy, asked when she picked up our empty plates.
“Dickhead contractor Viv is working with pulled off her project with no warning.”
“Wow,” Jenna commented. I wasn’t sure if she was listening to what Molly said or just staring at Molly. Jenna had a thing for Molly, a weird straight-married-woman thing, but a thing nonetheless.
“Yeah,” Molly agreed, oblivious to Jenna’s interest. A few years ago Molly told me she was ready to settle down. After that point, Molly went from being a carefree flirt to a single minded woman on a mission. With few single lesbians in town, she was in for a long wait.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ve called the other contractors in the area who can take on this kind of work, and none of them will take it. Natalie said that Cal made a deal with them not to take on my project.”
“Now I really want to hit him.”
“Who’s Natalie?” Jenna continued ignoring her seven other tables.
“Foreman on my latest project.”
“She works for Cal?” Molly asked.
“Yes, but she could run her own crew. In fact, Glory and I tried to talk her into starting her own business as soon as Cal walked off the job.”
“Wow,” Jenna said again before finally going back to work.
“She must dazzle her husband with her vocabulary,” Molly commented, and I laughed because Molly was like that. One minute, completely pissed about something being done to one of her friends, and the next, making a sarcastic comment about someone. “Think Natalie will go for it?”
“I don’t know. I’m embarrassed to say that even after spending a lot of time with her on the jobsite, I don’t know much about her. She’s a hard worker and knows her stuff, but she seemed really hesitant even with Glory volunteering to do all the work to get her up and running.”
“Glory, huh?” Molly sighed wistfully. She’d had a crush on Glory since meeting her. Just a surface crush, one that didn’t involve knowing the object of her crush well enough to know they weren’t compatible, not the kind that had actual feelings attached.
“They know each other. Natalie helped build her house.”
“Makes sense then. Hope she goes for it. What’s she like?”
“Kind and considerate. She hasn’t talked a lot, but she seems great.”
Molly inclined her head. Light danced in her brown eyes. “Could she be family?”
“Anyone could be family, Mol. You know that.”
“For you, anyone would be, yeah,” Molly joked. “Realistically though, think she might be? She works construction.”
“Molly!” I admonished.
“What?”
“Don’t throw your innocent act around me. You know I don’t buy it.”
She fluttered her eyebrows. “Don’t I know it.”
“It’s not a topic that comes up on a construction site.”
“You could maybe drop a hint that you live in Lady Town and see how she reacts.”
“Lady Town?” I started laughing.
“Lady Land? Female Frontier? Lassie Metropolis?”
“Stop.”
“Is she a hottie? A fit, handy, construction hottie? What’s she look like?”
“Molly.”
“Come on, Viv, no one is going to be as gorgeous as you, but if she’s hot, she’ll do.”
My head pushed back at the compliment. She didn’t normally get hung up on looks like Joanna and Brandy could. They thought they could change anyone’s sexuality for a night based on how good they looked. It kinda drove me nuts that appearance garnered easy compliments. Like it meant something to be beautiful instead of a good person with a pleasant personality. The personality I was responsible for; the looks I had nothing to do with.
“She’s very nice,” I responded.
“And hot?”
“Focused, patient.”
“And ultra-hot, right?”
“Pretty.”
“Pretty hot?”
That got me laughing again. “Yeah, okay, pretty hot.”
“I knew it!”
“Hey, Viv, hi, Molly,” Glory called out as she approached with Lena, her friend Mei, and a dark haired woman I’d never seen before.
“Hey, guys,” Molly greeted as I tipped my chin at them.
“Do you know Miguel’s wife, Marcela?” Glory gestured to the unfamiliar woman.
“He does great work,” I told Marcela, shaking her hand.
“He enjoyed working with you. First time he’s come home and not complained about work,” she said, making us laugh.
Just as they were about to head off to their table, Miguel and Natalie came into the restaurant. Glory introduced both to Molly. I felt my face grow warm as Molly recognized Natalie’s name and very obviously went about checking her out. Natalie barely glanced at her, happy to let Lena tell Molly about the project.
“So?” Glory asked, looking at Natalie, but it was Miguel who answered.
“She aced the exam!”
“Hey, congrats, Nat. Does this mean we’re filling out paperwork tomorrow?”
Natalie smiled, shooting a quick glance at me. “Let’s go for it.”
Glory’s hand bumped my shoulder. “You hear that, Viv? Natalie’s getting her own shop.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Glory could talk almost anyone into almost anything. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been hoping Natalie would make this decision. I wouldn’t have to worry about Lena’s project anymore, and I could stop turning down client meetings for renovation work. If I were being honest, I could say that Natalie was saving my career, at least in the short-term. I was going to have to find a way to thank her.
“That’s wonderful, Natalie. Congratulations,” I said, reaching out to squeeze her arm. She was blushing to the tips of her ears with all the attention. My eyes were riveted by the sight. I could tell she wanted to dash away from the focus, and I felt compelled to help her. “I’ll expect you on the jobsite tomorrow morning.”
The mock order did the trick. Everyone laughed, and Glory started ticking off everything that needed to be done before Natalie could officially start work. The list sounded lengthy and tedious. Glory looked jazzed about it—the nerdling—but at least no one was gushing over Natalie’s accomplishment anymore.
I stole a glance at her. She chose that moment to shift her gaze to me. Her eyes shined with her smile. The look pulled me in. I couldn’t wait to get to know her better whenever she could start back to work.