Nice.
Nodding approvingly at the cream-coloured ivory stone threaded with distinctive silver veins and flecks of gold, she glanced up at the space around her. It was what she would choose too, given the opportunity. Courtney truly did have great taste. Her curiosity piqued, Hannah then opened up another browser window to check the price.
‘Yikes,’ she gulped, eyes widening at the results. ‘Seems I’m more of a Formica girl …’
As if on cue, a loud knock sounded on the front door and she jumped off the stool, hurrying to answer. Seems the marble guys were early. Well, with any luck maybe that meant that they would also finish early and the remainder of this beautiful spring day would be her own.
‘Installation for Wilde?’ a workman in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with a company logo greeted her upon opening the door.
‘Sure, hi. I’m Hannah, the house-sitter.’
The man shrugged as if he could care less about who she was or why she was there. ‘Whatever. Got some papers to sign first.’ He shoved a clipboard at her and took a pen from behind his right ear, offering it to her.
Hannah cautiously took both items and bit her lip. ‘OK, but I need to verify that it’s correct first. Before I sign anything, I mean.’ Courtney had stressed that the stone pieces needed to be bookmarked, which from what Hannah could tell, basically meant that the markings of each piece were a perfect mirror image of each other. ‘Those are my instructions – from the owner,’ she said, trying to sound authoritative against the worker’s gruff demeanour.
He huffed, clearly annoyed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, then swept his arm behind him to the empty hallway.‘You think I’m gonna drag a tonne of stone all the way up here just to drag it all back down if it’s the wrong stuff?’
Hannah grimaced. His voice was echoing down the hallway. The renovation work hadn’t even begun yet and already there was a racket!
‘Well,’ she said diplomatically, lowering her voice in the hope he’d take the hint, ‘I suppose it would be a bigger problem if you installed something that wasn’t quite what your customer ordered and then had to reinstall everything to make it right?’ she countered, trying to keep a neutral face. ‘That sounds like a very expensive mistake – not that I know much about marble installation. You’re the expert.’
The guy sighed heavily; he knew she was right. Verify first, or potentially double the work. ‘All right. All right. But you get where I’m comin’ from, yes?’
‘Of course, I do. And I’m just following orders. I need to check first before I sign for it. That’s all.’
In response, the worker rolled his eyes. ‘Lady, I’ve been doing this a long time—’
‘How about this?’ she cut him off amiably. ‘I’ll come down to the loading bay or wherever your truck is parked, and take a quick look. I’m sure it’s the right stuff; I’m not questioning the quality or workmanship. I simply want to do my due diligence, just as I’m sure you always want to do a good job for your clients, yes?’
‘Yeah, yeah, whatever. OK. Follow me,’ he said as he started to stomp off, his footfalls landing hard on the hallway floor, all the while steadfastly refusing to use his indoor voice. Assuming he had one. ‘Just so you know though, the cargo area of this place ain’t as fancy as the parts you people use.’
You people.‘Like I said, I’m just the house-sitter.’ Since hebelieved that she was one of the building’s well-heeled residents, Hannah hoped that this explanation might help level the playing field a little.
She dutifully followed behind, getting into the service elevator at the other end of the hallway and riding it down and out back to the building’s loading area, whereupon he led her to a large truck with the same company logo emblazoned on its side. Upon instruction, another member of the work crew duly removed a covering to reveal the marble underneath. Hannah turned her phone’s flashlight on, looked at the work order on the clipboard and then glanced at the picture she’d screenshot earlier, comparing it to what she was seeing now.
All checked out and the stone looked even better in real life, richer in texture and tone, and so unbelievably soft and luxurious to the touch.
Confirming as much to the foreman, she thanked him again for allowing her to confirm and that all was good to go. She signed the delivery docket, then got out of the truck, took the elevator back up to the penthouse floor, and propped the door of P-2 fully open to allow the team access in and out.
And as she did, Hannah spied another note on the ground. Her heart fled to her throat, hoping that it wasn’t another complaint from Ed prompted by the loud-mouthed foreman at the door just now.
Good to hear that the building work is finally over. I personally don’t believe in upgrades if everything works just fine as it is. But that’s me.
Hannah smiled, exhaling in relief that the message was cordial. Even if he couldn’t resist adding in one of his typically ornery remarks.
While the marble guys did their thing, she took her laptop into the bedroom, taking the opportunity to catch up on email and other work stuff while she waited and, more pertinently, attempt to make a start on a more coherent strategy for Ward McKenzie’s grand transformation.
But nothing especially interesting or original jumped out, other than testing the waters with a run-of-the-mill puff piece based on what little information she’d gleaned from their last meeting.
Much to Hannah’s relief, the installation finished without fuss, and having said goodbye to the crew, she snapped a picture of the finished job and quickly sent it off to Sara, certain that she and her boss would be keen to see how it all turned out.
The end result was indeed dreamy. The luxurious countertop stretched all the way down to the floor on both sides, which the foreman described as a waterfall finish, adding an extra layer of finesse to the already breathtaking kitchen upgrade. Hannah decided that if she ever won the lottery and bought a place of her own, she’d upgrade theentire housewith this stuff.
As the photo swished off, heading into the ether and its intended destination, a brainwave hit; her train of thought echoing and perhaps even prompted by Ed’s written words from earlier.
I personally don’t believe in upgrades if everything works just fine as it is…
Inspiration striking fast and hard, she took out her phone and quickly hammered off another missive, this time to a different recipient.
