Page 15 of Second Round

“Look, uh, madam, I like to spread my work out and watch a lot of game video, and a hotel room isn’t real good for that. I need to get my own place and set it up the way I want. I don’t need a lot of fancy designerstuff.”

And at your budget, you’re not getting any. Andmadam? Did he forget my name in the two minutes we were talking? Eff right off. Out loud, all I said was, “Sorry, but I’m notdoneyet.”

“You can work around me. I’ll give you my schedule, and you can come when I’m not there and do whatever it isyoudo.”

My opinion of this guy was falling rapidly. “Okay, give me until the end of day tomorrow. Anything else I’ll do when you’re not here.” I wanted to photograph the place once it was all done, but now that wasn’t going to be possible. “But I do need some direction about your daughter’s room. She’s seven, right? What kinds of things doesshelike?”

“She likes cats and the colour purple. But she’s not arriving until the summer. That’s where you can save time. Okay, I’ll move in tomorrowaftersix.”

“I’ll arrange for you to get keys,” I said, but he’d alreadydisconnected.

What anenormousjerk.

The next day,I went straight to the apartment after I dropped the kids at school. Sharon met me shortlyafter.

“I’m busy as fuck. Can’t believe you roped meintothis.”

“You’re a dream to help me,” I said. “I want to convert this closet into an office, so I need you to remove the hardware and add a desk andshelves.”

Sharon laughed. “I’m not doing all the work. I’m going to showyouhow.”

“Sharon Zennaro: empowering women one by one.” I passed her the large thermos of coffee she hadrequested.

“Ahhh. Just what I need.” She took a big sip, closed her eyes, and smiled. “Mmmm. Did youmakethis?”

I nodded happily. “Of course. Fresh ground Guatemalan is the only thing good enough for mybestie.”

“You’ve got a lot of work to do today,” Sharon noted. The place was still filled with boxes and misplacedfurniture.

“I know. The timeline was tight enough before I talked to that coach.” I shouldn’t have let him walk all over me. If the place wasn’t finished right, it would jeopardize my getting more work with Wayne’s company. Fiona had already told me off when I told her the news. She was right, I should never have called him. “I haven’t touched the little girl’s room yet, other than get the bed. I hardly know anything about her. What am I supposed to do, fill her room withpurplecats?”

“So this guy made a great impression on you?” Sharon laughed as she strapped her toolbelton.

“He’s seventeen kinds of ajerk-head.”

“Oh, go crazy with the bad language.” Sharon might pretend she learned her swearing on job sites, but she dropped the f-word more than anyone I knew even before she went into construction. What was crazy was that her daughter never swore. Maybe it was Kayla’s way ofrebelling.

I sipped from my travel mug and then continued my complaints. “He was so arrogant. Like everything I’m doing—just for him—is not important enough for him to give me any time or information. He’ll probably be like Brent, ‘Oh, you decide on the new sofa, honey, the house is your domain.’ But then he’s the first one to complain if he doesn’t like what I’vechosen.”

“Sometimes I wonder why you stayed married to that fucker for so long,” Sharon commented as she measured the wall inside the closet. For the desk, there was a piece of white laminate and trestles, but Sharon would cut it to fitexactly.

“Really? I can’t count the number of people who told me how lucky I was to be married to a great guy like Brent. Even after he left, someone said I’d never find a catch like thatagain.”

“Brent seemed like a great guy on the surface, but once you got to really know him, he was never really happy. And that was wearing you down—trying to make things perfect allthetime.”

I dropped the linens on the bed. “What? I can’t believe you’re telling methisnow.”

Sharon bit her lower lip. “I didn’t think you were ready to hear it before. You were too busy beating yourself up over the marriage breaking down. People split up. It’s not anyone’s fault that thingschange.”

“Can I blame Brentinstead?”

Sharon laughed. “Sure. He’s arrogant as fuck. But take it from me, the real breakthrough comes when you don’t need to assign any blame. Okay, so you want to hang these floating shelves?” Sharonasked.

“Yes, the only thing that Coach Jerk-head wanted was a place to work. And since the extra bedroom is for his daughter, this closet is the only place to put anoffice.”

After the phone call, I recalibrated my idea of what kind of man he was. A divorced workaholic with crappy people skills who had a big belly and a receding hairline. The visual image came from Don, Tristan’s current screamer coach. Still, even a loser like Leo might have a lady friend over, so closing the door on his work would be a goodthing.

“He’s probably going to put heavy books or binders on the shelf.” Sharon pulled out a yellow plastic tool. “To make sure that we fix the shelf to something strong, we’re going tousethis.”

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