And. AND! He’dspelled grey with an E when everybody knew that gray with an A was theAmerican-English spelling.
And it was romantic.
It was the romanticway to spell gray.
I mean for thatreason alone it was obvious this man was a sociopath. Or worse. A realist.
Gross!
Fury convinced meto open the third email. Well, fury and morbid curiosity.
Subject: This willbe good for you.
I’ll see you Monday. We can discuss the details then.
~EFB
Also, I don’t know if I said it already, but I just wanted tothank you again for your work on the engagement party. I appreciate all thatyou did.
One final thought, since she’s a pain in my ass and readingover my shoulder, I’m forced to tell you that Dillon says hello. And that sheenjoyed meeting you.
That’s all, Molly. Talk to you soon.
For half a second,I pondered all of his post scripts and how he seemed to say more at the end ofhis emails than at the beginning. But then I pushed away thatadorableweirdquirk to make room for the justifiable outrage boiling in my blood.
He’d insulted me onso many different levels. It was hard to decide which one should be the mostupsetting.
From assuming I wasmore interested in money than integrity to insulting my design styleagainto assuming I would take the jobsimply because he demanded it. The man was intolerable.
He clearly wasn’tused to hearing the word “no.” Or “no, thank you.” Or “not a chance in hell,buddy.”
I had the strongesturge to paint again, but only so I could create something vaguely in his imageand then turn it into a dart board.
Sittingcross-legged in the middle of my bed, I repressed the flattered preening of myego. Okay, for like a hot second I could admit that it was nice to beconsidered for Ezra’s website revamp. And not just considered, but aggressivelysought after.
I had no doubt hewould pay well. And somehow I knew that if I demanded more money, he would paythat too.
Not that I would. Iwasn’t totally greedy.
But not for onesecond did I really believe that he would keep his nose out of my business. Infact, for hardly knowing him or seeing him or wanting anything to do with him,he was perpetually in my business.
I held my phonewith both hands and tapped out the quickest reply I could. There was no reasonto prolong whatever was happening here. The emails needed to stop. Theunsolicited advice needed to end. And Ezra Baptiste just needed to disappearfrom my life altogether.
Subject: Let mestop you right there.
Dear Ezra Franklin Baptiste…
Hello, Ezra Fenwick Baptiste…
What up EFB…
Ezra,
There’s no need to call me Monday since we’ll have nothing todiscuss. I apologize that you’re so set on the idea of us working together whenI am super set on us not working together. If you’re really that interested inSixTwentySixthough, I’m happy to refer you to anotherdesigner that I trust.
Best,
MM.
