A smile immediately crossed her face. “Hi. Holden?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m here to quote your kitchen cabinetry.”
“Just Briar. Ma’am makes me feel old. Come in. I’m sorry if I look surprised. I was expecting to see some old guy with a potbelly.”
He stepped into the house. There was a staircase with frameless glass railings in front of him and molding on the walls. “Nice place.”
“Thank you. I got it in my recent divorce.” She led him down the hall to a sleek kitchen. The counters were topped with cool concrete, and the cabinets were painted black.
“This is the kitchen you want to renovate?” He ran his fingers over the countertop. Who the hell would rip this out?
“Yep. New divorce, new me.”
It would be a crime to remove this.
Briar crossed her arms over her chest. “I really hope you’re not going to tell me you can’t do it. I’ve already had a dreadful morning at Sassy Stems. God, even the name of the store annoys me.”
It seemed everyone had been to the florist that morning. “It’s your kitchen, so you can do what you want with it.”
“Good. Floor plan can stay the same. I just want white shaker cabinetry with rose gold hardware and the marble countertops.”
“I can do the cabinetry, the demolition, and installation. You’ll need to be the one to order in countertops though. I don’t deal in marble or quartz.”
Annoyance flickered on her face. “Fine.”
Holden got out his tape measure and phone to start taking measurements.
Briar watched him move around her kitchen. “So…you’re new in town?”
“Kind of. Moved here less than a year ago.”
“Why’d you move here?”
“Jesse, the town sheriff, is my best friend. We served together. And his family’s like my family.” He sure as hell had no one else.
“Friends in high places. I like it. I’ve seen your friend a bit at the hospital when he comes in for sheriff stuff.”
“You work at the hospital?”
“I do. I’m a nurse.”
He nodded as he measured. “That would be a busy job.”
“It is. Stressful too. Exactly why I wanted those irises for my work desk. Damn Mildred.”
Holden frowned. “Irises?”
“Yeah. The woman ordered me the wrong color, then had the gall to tell me they were deep blue when they clearly weren’t.”
Okay, that couldn’t be a coincidence. “So you left them.”
“Of course I did. I told Mildred what I thought too.”
And then Clara had bought them. Of course she had. She was the most empathetic person he knew, and she’d probably felt bad for Mildred, not just because Briar hadn’t bought the flowers, but because of the way the woman had no doubt spoken to the older shop owner.
Briar’s phone rang and she huffed before answering it. “Yes?”
Jesus, this woman wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses.
