Mo let out a whistle.“Swanky.”
“I thought she was drunk texting me at first,” Chloe admitted.
Carrie barked out a bawdy laugh.“You didn’t trash the place, did you?”
“No, but we used all the bathroom towels,” Chloe admitted.“And spent a good hour cleaning up before we left.”
Pleased, Carrie nodded.“And you tipped housekeeping?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.”Her gaze flicked to Mo.“Did you tell her yet?”
Mo shook her head.“I just got here.”
Chloe glanced from one to the other.“Tell me what?”
“The permits came in,” Carrie said in her typical blunt fashion.“Demo starts on Monday.”
“Oh.”Suddenly thirsty, Chloe reached into a cooler for a bottle of water.“That soon?”
“We want the restaurant up and running for Valentine’s Day,” Mo said.
“We’re keeping the bar open during reno,” Carrie continued, winding pasta around her fork.“With the wall up, it shouldn’t be too much of a bother.”
Chloe looked across the room at the wall separating the bar from the new space, the yellowed plaster and dark wood paneling that had been there as long as she could remember.“They’re not taking it down?”
“Not all of it.”Mo plucked a cocktail napkin off a stack and passed it to her wife.“Sauce on your chin.We were going to open it all the way up, make it one big room, but the wall’s brick.”
“Looks cool,” Carrie put in, swiping at her chin.“So we’re going to do a wide archway, take down the plaster on both sides to expose the brick.They’ll do that last.”
“Noise shouldn’t be too bad once the demo’s done,” Mo put in.
Chloe nodded.“Okay.”
“Jesse’s got a key to next door, and one for here.”Carrie gestured with her fork.“He’s gonna have to get to the electrical panel, plumbing, that kind of thing.”
Chloe sipped her water.“Makes sense.”
“Anything they gotta do with that stuff, they’re gonna clear with us first.You comfortable being his point of contact on that?”
“Me?”Her hand tightened on the bottle, making the plastic crinkle.“Why me?”
“Because you’re on site,” Carrie said, jabbing her fork at the ceiling—and Chloe’s apartment above it.“They can’t do that kind of thing while we’re open.And if they have to kill power to the building to work on stuff, that affects your place, too.”
Chloe gulped water.“Right.Okay, I guess.”
“Good.I gave him your number.”
Jesse has my number.“Okay.”
“Good.Your friend Gwen, she still waiting tables at Le Pigeon?”
The lightning change of topic made Chloe blink.“Yes.”
“She happy there?”
Confused, Chloe looked at Mo.“I guess?”
