We drove backto the estate with the painting, Hazel's clothes, and boxes full of sandwich ingredients in tow. Greg and Mike were already up, sipping coffee and going over the strategy for later that morning.
"There you are." Greg's irritation was visible on his face. "I thought you weren't going to show up."
I yawned. "Had to pick up the painting. And the artist."
"All night?" Mike asked skeptically.
My grin got wider. Hazel blushed. She held up her garment bag. "My shower is not the greatest, and Archer said I could shower here." The words came out in a rush. "He said you wanted me to come to the presentation?"
Greg looked at her critically. I was going to jump him if he said anything mean to her.
"Probably a good idea," he said thoughtfully. "The Harringtons won't have a real-life resident of Harrogate on their team."
"Let's see the rendering before you two disappear again," Mike said. Hazel blushed.
When I unveiled the painting, I saw an actual genuine smile break out on Greg's face.
"Wow," he said. "The rendering looks amazing. You could just walk right into it."
"You did all this in three weeks?" Mike asked in disbelief.
"I'm wondering," Greg said, "if maybe we should just have Hazel present. It's not like we hit it out of the park the last time."
"No way," Hazel said. "I don't know enough about the project."
"You can talk about the vision," I told her. "You just have to sell it."
"Not by myself."
"We'll be there too," Greg said. "But you will need to walk them through the painting. That's really all that we're presenting—the vision for the place."
"I guess."
"Don't be nervous," I told her. "You stood up in front of all those old drunk women and taught them how to make stained-glass penises."
"Wait, what?" Josie asked, coming into the dining room with a large mug of coffee topped by a tower of whipped cream.
"I'm running the worst art retreat of the century. They're making dildos and nude paintings. What's worse is they want Archer to be a model," Hazel said.
Josie laughed gleefully.
"Don't sound so excited," Mace said, following her into the room and turning to look at Hazel's painting.
"If we win this project," Greg said, "Archer can pose for whatever you need."
Mace snickered.
"They want him to pose nude," Hazel clarified.
"Oh, well, never mind, then."
"Oh no, you already promised. We win, you'll get the full frontal Svensson treatment," I promised Hazel.
"Please don't," Greg said.
"This was your idea," I reminded him.
"We're not going to do anything if you make us late," Mike said.
