“Really? Savannah seems to think she will.”
“Do you know something we don’t know?” Travis asked Levi.
“I know a lot of things you don’t know,” Levi retorted. Travis grinned at him but didn’t take the bait.
“Go ahead and ask her,” Levi said to Harlan. “But don’t be surprised when she turns you down.”
Harlan filed that away to investigate later. “Besides a new terminal what do you envision needing?”
“We made a list,” Zack said, handing Harlan a piece of paper. “Everything is listed in order of importance. The first few are equally important.”
Harlan took the paper and scanned it. Control tower, terminal building, several different hangars, and the list went on. He looked up at them. “This is an extensive list. Do you want me to bid on everything?”
Levi nodded. “Yes, but can you break it down to an estimate of each building’s cost? And the costs of the runways?”
“Sure. What’s the budget? I’m assuming you don’t want either the cheapest or the most expensive.”
“Quality materials but nothing too outrageous,” Zack agreed. “We just want a rough estimate of how much it’s going to cost. We’ll consider the architect’s fee separately.”
“All right,” Harlan said, rising. “I’ll get to work on it right away.”
Everyone rose and shook hands. “I’ll walk you out,” Travis said. “We need to talk about Laurel.”
“What’s wrong?” Harlan asked, once they were out of earshot of the other two men.
“I’m not sure. It’s undoubtedly money, but I don’t know what has happened lately to make her flip out. I only found out because Cody told me Laurel wouldn’t let him play soccer. It’s not for a few months, but she’s already said no. When I asked her about it she said she couldn’t take him to practices or go to his games because of work.”
“I thought she’d been able to cut back on her hours?” Laurel worked at Kelly Boots, as an assistant in the accounting department.
“Yeah, so did I. But recently she took on more work and won’t tell me why. She’s working Saturday nights atJalisco’s, the new Mexican food place.”
“What’s she doing with the kids?”
“I asked her and she told me to mind my own business.”
“How she can make enough money waitressing to even pay for the child care?”
Travis shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“I hate that she and her kids are living in those crapshit apartments in the Barrels. Why the hell won’t she let us help her?”
“Because she’s too damn stubborn and independent. The only time she ever lets us help is if she desperately needs the money for the kids. And that’s a last resort. She won’t let Mom and Dad help her either.”
Harlan shook his head. “I’ll see if I can get something out of her.”
“I hope you have better luck than I did. And while you’re at it, try to get her to move out of the Texan apartments.”
“That’s probably not going to happen but I’ll try. Again.”
They reached Harlan’s car and Travis said, “You planning on taking this sweet ride to construction sites?”
Harlan patted the hood of his Ferrari. It wasn’t the traditional red but a beautiful silver blue. He’d thought about black but in the Texas summer heat a black car only made things hotter. High-end homebuilding in Dallas had been good to him. “Not if I can help it. My truck should be here tomorrow.”
“You have someone driving it down here?”
“Yes.” He glanced at the Ferrari. “No one but me drives this car.”
“Can’t blame you for that,” Travis said. “How was the ball? Did you get stuck at the inn in that freaky ice storm?”
