"And how long does it take between calling and a visit?" Violet asked. "Just curious what I should expect on the lead time for an appointment."
"It depends on when we can fit you in," Mr. Armstrong told her. "Sometimes it's a few days, sometimes it's a few months."
"Great," Violet said. "So, is there any way I can schedule an appointment now for you to come back? We already have the smoke detectors, so it won't take us more than a day to put them up."
"Uh…" The man pulled out his phone and swiped at the screen. "Well, I'm not sure what availability I have…"
"I promise I'm easy to work with," Violet assured him, shifting a little closer. Then she pointed at his screen. "Oh, it looks like you might have something open on Wednesday. If you want to just pencil me in there, then we can have this completed and out of your way."
From the look on the guy’s face, I was pretty sure that he'd been hoping to give her the runaround. Too bad for him, Violet hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, she'd been just a little too nice. She'd also just put him on the spot, which left him only one option: he had to give in.
"Yes," Mr. Armstrong said. "Okay, I have you marked in here, so I will see you Wednesday, then."
Violet just leaned in a little more so she could see his phone. "Should I assume that that's a sliding schedule? You know, like the cable company? You'll be here sometime between two and five that afternoon, right?"
"Um, probably closer to two thirty," he mumbled. "I have to drive over here from my previous appointment, and then I'll want to be done in time to go home."
"Easy enough," she assured him. "Now that we know what to expect, we'll have everything ready so you can just fly through this. The last thing I want to do is make your life harder. Thanks so much for letting us know what we have to do. Now, let me show you the way back to your truck."
Together, the three of us walked back up the hill so the man could get back to his vehicle. Once again, Violet verified the date and time of our next appointment with him, and she told him to drive safe. As he managed to get his Blazer turned around and headed out the gate, the two of us stood there, watching him go.
"You know that's a load of bullshit?" I asked her.
"Oh, I'm sure of it," she agreed. "That's why I made sure we had an appointment. I don't want to give them any excuse to delay this. If Paul Simmons is really involved, then he's going to pull every string he has. I intend to make sure that man learns just how outclassed he really is."
"And that," I told her, "is why I love you."
Chapter Nineteen
When Violet was called away to deal with the fire marshal, Billy called the shooting lesson over. I knew because Faith was bragging about how well she'd done as they came into the house. Leaving my office, I found Luke smiling at her proudly. Behind them, Billy was watching, looking intently as if trying to figure out if Luke was being serious.
But the sound of Faith's voice was enough to wake up her puppy, who had been sleeping quietly in my office the whole time. The little Ridgeback mix came running up the hall at full speed. Her nails scraped and slid on the wood floor as she rushed to greet her person. Lucy came trotting out after her, moving a little bit slower, but the teacup-sized dog stopped to sit down at the edge of my foot.
"Are you already spoiled, Lucy?" I asked, bending down to pick her up.
Lucy just leaned into my chest as if she was trying to suck up my body heat or something. It was kinda cute. I was starting to see why Cy was so smitten with this dog. I also thought she needed clothes in more colors than just pink. Maybe I should make her something in magenta, violet, cyan, and emerald? I probably had some scraps of fabric around.
I was going through my mental inventory when Faith saw her puppy. "Sissy!" She squealed.
"So, is it official?" Luke asked. "Is that going to be her name?"
"Yeah, I think so," Faith said. "Zeke says that he really likes it. Having a big dog with a wussy name seems like something that fits me."
"Sissy, huh?" Billy asked. "I like it."
Then he kept walking, heading to the door to the guest suite where he knocked. On the other side, Cessily yelled for him to come in. Next, Luke told Faith to head upstairs and get started on her homework. She complained that it was starting to get hard now, so he said she could work on it at the dining room table, but hard wasn't a good excuse for skipping it.
Since no one seemed to be stressed out or worried, I carried Lucy back into my office. Sitting her in my lap, I got back to work, needing to finish setting up our next catalog. In New York, Leslie was handling almost everything, but I just wasn't quite ready to let go of the reins. I'd built this business from the ground up, and because I was a little worried that we might need the money from it to keep Southwind running, I wasn't willing to take the risk of things going wrong.
At some point, Faith came back downstairs. I heard her giggling as she talked to her puppy, then Luke making a comment that if her dog was going to distract her, that Sissy could stay outside while Faith did her homework. A little bit later, Cessily's voice joined the rest in the living room. I kept going, liking the way this felt. I really could spend the rest of my life like this.
That all changed when Violet returned. She walked into the house grumbling about assholes and idiots. I could hear the soft rumble of Cy's voice as he tried to keep her from losing control. Saving my work, I scooped up Lucy and decided it was time to call it a day.
"What happened?" I asked as I headed into the living room.
Cy smiled the moment he saw his dog, heading right towards me to steal her away. "The fire marshal refused to pass us because the smoke detectors weren't installed yet."
"And," Violet added, "I'm pretty sure that he had no intention of coming back for a recheck. He was working just a little too hard to find something - anything - he could use to keep from giving us an approval."
