“I can’t believe how quickly you got it. I thought we were going to be delayed because I couldn’t make a decision before working with you.” She chuckled.
“Nope. Luckily everything that you chose was in stock, so we’re still on track for your move-in date.” I had only selected options that were in stock for her to choose from, but she needed a win, and this felt like one that I could give her.
She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. “I’m just so grateful for you. I’m finally sleeping again, and I’ve hardly even been here, because I know you’ve got it.”
“That’s exactly how it should be.” I glanced down at my phone to check the time. “And you have a soccer game to get to, so you better get going. I just wanted you to see the progress, and give you something to be excited about with this project.”
She blinked a few times, and I noticed her eyes were wet with emotion. “I’m so grateful for you,” she said again.
She gave me one more hug and hurried out of the room, just as I heard someone calling my name. I sighed, because I recognized the voice.
You can do hard things. You survived a relationship with Gabriel.
“What’s up, William?” I asked as I came around the corner and found one of our subcontractors in the laundry room. He was installing the wallpaper for me, and he’d already had some run-ins with the other subcontractors.
I didn’t know how Cutler handled all the moving parts and personalities in this business. And he never seemed bothered by it. He was even-keeled, yet he knew how to get things done. They all respected him.
“Well, your painter did shit work, and I can’t work under these conditions.” William tossed his hands in the air.
“This guy has some nerve talking shit about my work,” Carl hissed as he came walking out of the pantry, startling us both.
“Oh. I didn’t know you were still here,” William said.
“Well, here I am, asshole.” Carl placed his hands on his hips and stepped forward.
“And I here I am speaking the truth, asshole.”
Please make it stop.
“Listen, you little diva. You had a problem at the last project with the cabinet guy touching your work, and now you have a problem with me,” Carl shouted, and they stepped closer to one another.
“I don’t want any of you assholes touching my paper!” William’s voice bounced off the walls in the small space, and my heart raced at how heated this was getting.
I moved forward to step between them because I had a feeling they were ready to throw blows, and I hoped like hell they wouldn’t do that if I was standing between them.
“Your paper? Did you make the wallpaper? Are you the artist? I don’t believe you are.” Carl’s sarcasm was impossible to miss.
“You son of a bitch!” William shouted.
“What is going on in here?” Cutler’s voice came from behind me, and my shoulders relaxed immediately.
“Oh, hey, Cutler.” Carl cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“‘Oh, hey’?” Cutler asked. “I hear shouting on the jobsite, and all you have to say is ‘hey’?”
Cutler stepped in front of me, and I instinctually stepped back, which I assumed was the purpose. He placed himself between the two men and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know I don’t tolerate that on my jobsites. Period. You have a problem, you come to me. You don’t get into it here while you’re working. And I don’t appreciate you putting my girl in the middle of your mess either.”
They both turned to look at me and winced.
Cutler glanced over his shoulder and winked at me, and William and Carl both apologized at the same time.
“Now apologize to one another. You’re brothers, for fuck’s sake,” my best friend said, and now it was me who was gaping at them.
“You’re brothers?” I asked, not hiding my surprise.
“Of course. Do you think I’d talk to a stranger like that?” William shrugged.
“I’ve been dealing with this prima donna my entire life,” Carl grumped. “He thinks he’s an artist and the rest of us are talentless.”
