“Good luck to you guys.”
Cane pressed the button, ending the call. “Well, that’s interesting as fuck.”
“Yeah, sure is. Hey, why have him fax the number to your house?”
Cane smiled to himself as he rolled the plans up. “Just a little something I wanna see.”
Max
The room was stuffy,even though it was large, and there were only four other bidders in it. We had deposited our sealed bid into the box at the front of the room and waited for them to be opened and read.
Waiting on a bid to be opened was one of the most nerve-wracking things for a contractor. You’ve worked on this project for weeks, sometimes months, and the answer as to whether it was in vain or not was in a box and you had to wait to find out.
Brian Lytrell, a man I hadn’t seen before, and Dan Collins took their seats in the chairs facing the red-haired lady at the front. Dan saw us and looked away, dipping his chin like he thought he could become invisible.
I led Cane to a seat on the other side of the room, figuring it was a good idea to keep him away from Dan. Cane smirked, knowing what I was up to.
“Let’s see how this goes,” Cane muttered, sticking his sunglasses in the front of his shirt.
“Thank you for coming,” the redhead announced, effectively hushing our conversation. She identified the project and went through the legal bullshit. Then she opened the box and pulled out the first envelope.
“Lytrell Construction—$8,760,112.05.”
She reached inside and pulled out the second envelope.
“Gooseway Builders—$9,001,287.24.”
Brian Lytrell sat a little taller.
“Alexander Industries—$8,754,020.97.”
Cane and I watched anxiously as the lady dipped her hand into the box a final time. “Chalgon Construction—$8,782,432.10.”
Cane elbowed me in the ribs, a megawatt smile across his face, as Dan dipped his head lower at his defeat.
Instantly, I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. We won by a few thousand dollars. I blew out a breath and just appreciated not feeling like the pressure of the entire future of Alexander Industries was sitting on me.
I tilted my head to the ceiling and filled my lungs with air.
We did it.
“It appears that Alexander Industries is our lowest bidder. Thank you all for coming.”
Everyone stood to leave, Brian shaking our hands as he walked by. The guy we didn’t know followed him and Dan brought up the rear. He extended his hand to me, shook it firmly, and then shook Cane’s.
“Congrats, guys,” he said a bit nervously. “This will be a good project for you all.”
“Thanks,” Cane said, cocking his head to the side. “We’re excited about it.”
“I saw your name on the Chandler project awhile back and I figured you’d get it. You’d have had it, too, if Grady didn’t send a crazy low number.”
“How’d ya get that number?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “Have any idea?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “No, they said they didn’t send it but it sure as hell is on my desk. It’s been a fight to get them to honor it, though. Chalgon hadn’t worked with them before and I convinced them to go with it because I knew them from you guys.” He exhaled harshly and looked to the floor.
“Look, I owe you both an apology,” he said. “I know I acted a little crazy when you let me go. I was under a lot of pressure at home and it obviously affected me in a bigger way than I realized. I would have fired me over that bid, too.”
Cane looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “Answer me this—did you have anything to do with the asphalt out on the Mesa job? Did you call the City about the thickness? If you did, I just want to know.”
