Page 17 of Second Round

“Great, they’re for the living room.” Fiona had magically moved the couch delivery earlier after I messed up. Wayne wanted the place to be as finished as possible when Coach Jerk-Head arrived. The deliveryman eyed the living room, nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later, he returned with a younger man, both of them bearing a beigecouch.

I motioned for them. “Right here. I’ve marked the floor with tape where thecouchesgo.”

The bigger man grunted an acknowledgment and they placed the couch perfectly. I had removed the plastic by the time the loveseat appeared. He pulled out a tablet and got me to confirm that everything had been delivered in goodcondition.

“Thanks for being organized,” he told me. “You wouldn’t believe the people that want us to move things from place to place to see where they likeitbest.”

I beamed. It wasn’t much, but it was the first positive comment I’d heard since I took on this job. Of course, it wasn’t like anyone had seen it yet. I checked my watch. Only ninety minutes left. I hurriedly hung the large striped abstraction I’d painted for this room. For the whole place, I was using a colour scheme of a neutral beige colour with blue accents. The stripes were in blues ranging from navy to turquoise, as well as a few lines of yellow, white, and taupe. I was very happy with the final effect. I added the other accessories: a beige patterned area rug, a distressed coffee table, a refurbished lamp, cushions, and another cactus in a striped pot I’d also painted. I twirled around and admiredtheroom.

There was a knock on the door and then itopened.

“Hey, Jackie.” Wayne was dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase. Since I was used to seeing him in jeans or track pants, this was alittleodd.

“You look veryprofessional.”

“Thanks. I’m meeting Leo Gauthier here in twenty minutes.” When Fiona filled him in on the situation, he had arranged to meet the coach and show him the place. He wanted to manage any concerns about how things weren’t finished yet. “Can you show me what still needs tobedone?”

“Sure. It’s really only hisdaughter’sroom.”

Wayne cast an expert eye around the living room. I held my breath as he eyed my painting, but he didn’t say a word so it looked professional enough to pass muster. He stuck his head in the kitchen and bathroom, but I hadn’t had to do much in either except add all thenecessities.

Next we went into the little girl’s room, which was pretty bare. The naked bed and dresser were in onecorner.

“I left this to the end because the coach mentioned that she wasn’t coming right away. It’s going to need a coat of paint. I found out her favourite colour is purple, so I’ll do an accent wall in lavender. And maybe get a pouf and some accessories.” I was intending to do a cute cat painting this weekend. Minx had all the qualities of a good painter’s model: attractive and able to stay motionless for long periodsoftime.

“Okay. Have you arranged for a time to come in and doallthis?”

“Not yet. He mentioned a road trip, so I thought I’d do it then. I’ll use a low fume paint, but I’d still prefer to paint whilenobody’shome.”

Wayne closely examined the master bedroom. He poked into the closet office, opened drawers, and even ran his hands over the old blue hardcover books I bought as accessories—for only five dollars! However he never said one word about how the place looked. I felt so disappointed after all my hard work. “You still have a few things to clean up here,” hepointedout.

“I was just going to do that. I’ve been here since first thing thismorning.”

“When you’ve got the whole thing done, Fiona wants to have a look and you can settle everything with her. I assume you’re keeping to yourbudget.”

“Yes, I have everything right—” I motioned towards my plastic file folder, but he wavedmeaway.

“I leave all that to Fiona. It’s a shame we couldn’t have finished everything before the client moved in, but I’ll try to smooththingsover.”

I felt strangely deflated. I’d worked so hard for the past week, and apparently I had stillscrewedup.

Wayne finally smiled at me. “Thanks a lot for doing this, Jackie. I hate to give you the bum’s rush, but it’ll probably go better if I’m alone with this Gauthier fellow and can explain why we’re not done. I’ll get the details on his road trip and let you know when you can comebackin.”

I nodded and gathered everything up. Disappointment clung to me like the misty rain that was falling outside. As usual, I had been stupidly optimistic. I fantasized that Wayne would be so impressed by the work I’d done that he would offer me a permanent job on the spot. Instead I was back to the art store and haunting the online job postings. I sighed and started upthevan.

But as I headed home I remember that I’d “sold” a couple of paintings, and nobody could take thataccomplishmentaway.

6

MeetSuite

Leo

Ipausedthe monitor on the video of our latest game. “See. Right here. Dom makes this outlet pass and gets the puck up to Rams who moves into the attacking zone along with Burner. It’s a great play and an example of what we want. Controlled zoneentries.”

I looked around the dressing room. It was like I was speaking Swahili. Everyone’s face was completely puzzled. Dom looked the mostconcerned.

“Is something wrong, Dom?” Iasked.

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