Page 24 of Flippin' Cowboy
“Oh, hell no,” Nick blurted.
The verylastthing he wanted to do tomorrow was hang out with Winnie-fucking-Snowberry and her family. Even if Bob and his wife, Patricia, had been nothing but hospitable since Nick arrived.
Karla’s bold, perfectly shaped brows rose. “Your son’s presence at dinner tomorrow is optional, but yours isn’t, Nick. You signeda contract specifying that you would participate in all required filming for the show.”
Nick glared at her. “I thought you meant filming the restoration process,” he growled. “Not some fakey-fake family drama shit.”
Dammit, hadn’t he shown his good faith today through endless takes of walking through doorways and pointing at things?
Nick’s scowl didn’t seem to faze her. Her smile vanished as she crossed her arms and stated, “This is Winnie Snowberry’s show, and family-and-friends segments always go over well with viewers. Priscilla and Bob are serving dinner at six, but I need you to show up at least ninety minutes before that for makeup and wardrobe.” She paused, then added, “If it makes you feel any better, you and Winnie will be meeting after dinner to finalize the 2D and 3D floor plans for this inn. She’s volunteered to create the first drafts using her interior design software, but she needs your input on the proposed upstairs layout and the historical details for the downstairs restoration.”
“What? I haven’t even time to think about any floor plans yet,” Nick protested.
On a normal restoration project, he’d spend a week or two studying the building and mulling over his ideas before sitting down at his computer to generate plans.
“Then I guess you have some work to do tomorrow before dinner,” Karla informed him. “Look, we’re on a tight schedule here. The restoration needs to wrap up by the end of May. First week of June for the reveal, at the very latest. Winnie wants to start demo tomorrow, because we need to call in the asbestos guys and possibly a lead remediation company, too.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you on board with the plan, Nick? Or did you just waste two days of our time?”
That stung. He glared at her. “I promised you I’d restore this building, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Karla’s smile returned, a little frostier this time. “Good. Glad to hear we’re on the same page.” She spread her hands and took a deep breath. “Look, Nick, I know you’re used to being the lead on projects, but you’re not in control here.Iam. Your job—” She jabbed him in the chest. “Is to go with the flow. Stuff’s gonna come up, and if it’s interesting, we’ll adjust our filming schedule to take advantage of that. Flexibility is the key here. Do you understand?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t like it, but he got it. A project could only have one boss. Anything else was a recipe for chaos. He blew out a frustrated breath and forced himself to say, “I’m a team player, not the coach.”
“Exactly.” She patted his upper arm in approval.
Then one of the production assistants caught her attention. “Excuse me, I need to deal with this.” She rushed off.
Nick made his way downstairs. As his resentment cooled, he found himself thinking about the odd layout of the second floor, and how he might transform this space into something usable without losing the historic character.
Something wasn’t jiving here. Despite Winnie’s insistence that this had been her ancestor’s home, he was still convinced that his boarding house theory was correct.
And if his research proved him right, it made the prospect of restoring this building as a hotel rather than a historic home more palatable.
Deep in thought, he pulled open the front door, only to encounter Winnie on the porch, phone to her ear.
Nick wondered if she’d stalked out here to complain about him to her friends and family.
Then he heard her say, “—told my producer that we should hire as many locals as possible, and Brock tells me you’re an experienced carpenter. Are you interested in coming out to the Snowberry Springs Inn this coming week to look at the woodwork? There’s not a lot left, but the stairs are definitely original.”
She paused, clearly listening to the person on the other end. “Yeah, you would be on camera. Is that okay? Awesome. I’ll let Karla know that you’ll be here on Monday. Thanks, Jason.”
She paused again, then said. “Oh, absolutely. And if you know of any photogenic plumbers in the area, send them my way. We need to replace a bunch of old cast iron and repipe the place. Mm-hm, okay, bye.”
She disconnected and looked up at Nick. “What can I do for you?” she asked in a completely neutral tone.
“Karla just invited me to Sunday dinner at your parents’ place,” he told her. “I thought you should know.”
He waited for her angry response.
Instead, she nodded and said, “Yeah, that was my idea. Actually, Mom suggested it. My parents like you.” Her full lips thinned, as if she couldn’t figure out why. “And if you want to bring Kegan, my nephew and both of my nieces will be there. They’re all about his age. I thought he might want some friends while you guys are here.”
“Sure. I think he’d like that,” Nick said.
She was worried that my son is going to be lonely while I’m working?
Winter Snowberry kept surprising him. As he walked back to his truck, he wondered how their strange, adversarial partnership was going to play out over the next few months.
Chapter 9: The Grump Who Came to Dinner
