Page 25 of On One Condition

“Ask Hillary. That’s her domain.”

“True, but you’re walking in with fresh eyes. What are you seeing?”

“We’ll make the schedule, give or take a few days.” I pause. “I take that back. Hillary is currently working on getting local contractors on-site. That might push us back because we’re going to have to hire them regardless of whether they meet our skills needed or standards required.”

“Simply to appease Grossman.”

“Yep. So that alone might throw a wrench in our pace, but we’re being held up anyway with this two-month bullshit, so I’m sure it’ll even itself out.”

“Okay. I’ll let Charles know,” he says, mentioning our director of construction. “She’s already hiring locals? I love how quickly she works. That should help bolster public opinion.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I’m sure Grossman will pull something else out of his ass, some other hoop we need to jump through. Maybe this time he’ll require we light it on fire or something to get a final inspection.”

“We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”

“Easy for you to say while sitting in our office in Manhattan.”

“I’m in your office. My feet are up on your desk.”

“Funny.”

“Your chair is rather comfortable. I’m gonna have to get one of these for my office.”

I grit my teeth. The fucker knows how particular I am about my desk and is pushing buttons simply because he can. “Asshole,” I mutter.

His laugh floats through the line. “God, you are so easy to rile up. It’s rather pathetic, Ledge. How’s the place you rented? Is it okay?”

“If you’re asking if it’s a log cabin with an outhouse for a bathroom and trophy heads of deer lining the walls to make my time here even more authentic, I’m sorry to inform you it is not.”

“And to think I wanted to come and visit for a walk down memory lane.”

“Spare yourself. And me,” I joke.

“Come on. It would be fun. We could go to our old stomping grounds and pretend we’re kids again. No responsibilities. No rules.”

I smile at the thought. I did exactly that yesterday. Drove around where we used to hang out. I told myself it was for a bit of nostalgia, to get a lay of the new land here that’s developed over the years, but somehow, I found myself by an old willow tree. And from the willow tree, somehow my car drove itself to the side of the road, enabling me to stare at a huge sign that said The Fields.

The house looked the same as I remembered it. White clapboard, a wraparound veranda, the red front door. It looks like the Wells’s had expanded over the years since the lavender went as far as I could see, but I didn’t pay much attention to that part of it back then. All that mattered was getting lost somewhere in the rows where Asher and I could lay on our backs, stare at the stars, and then make out without getting caught.

I don’t know what I was hoping for in going there. Asher to be on the front porch? To have another chance to talk to her? Hell if I know.

“Ledge? You there?”

“Yeah. Sorry. What did you ask?”

“Your rental?”

“It works. Small house in a quiet neighborhood. It doesn’t really matter since I’ll be here working most of the time. Is that it? Is your micromanaging over now?”

He snorts. “Someone has to do it since you’re not here to.”

“Funny.” How the tables have turned. It wasn’t long ago I was putting Callahan through the paces, much like Ford is doing to me now. Back then, there was no laughing though. Only resentment.

“Make sure you give us an update on what happens.”

“There you go micromanaging again,” I mutter. “Don’t you have something else—another five projects or so—to give someone else the Spanish Inquisition over? I assure you I have this handled.”

Needing to stretch my legs, I move out into what will be the main lobby of The Retreat. With the changes we’ve made, it’s expansive and more on-brand for a S.I.N. property. I glance down the wide hallway toward the random sounds of construction where we’ve added three wings to the existing structure. Ahead of me, men are working on tiling a wall that will be the entrance to the new luxury spa we’ve brought in-house. Three pallets of marble tiles line the far wall to be used for new flooring.