“Wait—”
I rushed on. “He said money is no object. He just wants to rehab the house. And wants to keep the Gothic architecture.” And he wanted to be included in the remodel, but I didn’t need to lead with that part yet. “And it sounds like he wants to make it even more spectacular. I always pictured stained glass for some of those skinny windows. Imagine?”
“Dahlia…” Shelby sighed.
“Right. Anyway, this is my dream project and my dream house.”
“Okay, back up.” Shelby sat back in her chair. “That is not a house, it’s a mansion. We’d need to coordinate a huge crew to work on a job that big.”
“I know. But it would be a great addition to our portfolio. Especially with so many people buying up houses on the lake and in Crescent Cove. That’s some big money. Not just a little living room remodel. And besides we managed to do Dex’s house and that was a huge undertaking.”
“Yes, but Dex’s place took months to do. Lining up crews as well as ordering all the details for his place is one thing—this is a historical remodel, which will need some expertise we don’t have.”
“But we have the connections. We’ve been building them for years. And those we don’t know, we can research and find through our contacts.”
Shelby opened her mouth.
“One last thing.”
Shelby sighed. “What?”
“He’s Macy Devereaux’s brother.”
TJ gave a long whistle. “Girl. I didn’t even know she had a brother.”
“I know. I’ve known her for years and I didn’t either. But this isn’t some random dude. Between that and this house, this would be so good for our name. Dex started our level up, but this...”
Shelby tapped one short, pink nail on the table. “It would take a lot of work and scheduling.”
I could tell she was seriously thinking about it. I was the problem solver, but Shelby was our logistics girl.
I pulled out my phone and quickly opened the real estate listing for the house. “Look at the library, TJ. The built-ins need your love and attention.”
“Low blow.” But she took my phone and swiped through the photos. She’d only taken a brief tour of the house so far. “Shit.”
“You know this house is amazing. Between your carpentry skills and my knowledge of this house and Shelby’s spatial prowess, we could make it so great. There are so many rooms to be redone.”
“Wood rot for days,” TJ muttered.
“But you know it was built to last back then. There’s so much detail to restore.”
TJ handed me my phone. “This would take months. And you don’t even know if this dude actually has money because, girl, this is a money pit waiting to happen. No one has lived in that house for at least ten years.”
“Twelve.”
TJ stood and took her can. “I’d have to see it. And then maybe?—”
I stood and threw my arms around her. “Yes!”
“I didn’t say I would yet.” TJ didn’t hug me back. She was just as stubborn as our new client was.
I let her go. “You will. You’ll see the inside and fall in love with it like I did.”
“You have a lot of prep work to do.”
I sat back down. “I know. I have to go through all my papers and do a walk-through with Nolan.”
“Nolan? That’s this dude’s name?” TJ snorted.