Page 14 of Flippin' Cowboy
She turned on her heel and marched out, closing the door very firmly behind her.
“Is shereallya general contractor?” Nick asked in the uncomfortable silence following her departure. “She seems awfully… young.”
None of the GCs he knew were so young. Or so pretty. Or wore pink hard hats and pink tool belts with cute pink tools.
Winnie Snowberry drove him crazy every time she came on-screen inRestoring Seattle.
Over the show’s three seasons, he’d concluded that she was just a poser and that a less-photogenic GC was working behind the scenes to do all the real work on the houses featured.
Mrs. Snowberry peered at him in surprise. “Ofcourseshe is!” Indignation tinged her voice. “And a good one, too. Haven’t you seen her work onRestoring Seattle?”
He shrugged. He didn’t want to admit that he watched the show faithfully every week.
Instead, he finally focused on his surroundings and looked around. The downstairs layout felt original, with wide cased openings facing each other on the left and right side of the entrance hall, leading into what had originally been the dining room and parlor. At the back of the foyer, the hotel’s check-in desk stretched across an arched opening that presumably led to a kitchen and a pantry, and possibly a downstairs bathroom.
Next to the arched opening, a grand staircase with an intact carved newel post led up to the second story.
He could strip and restore the wood trim around the parlor and dining room doorways. Likewise the home’s original staircase. As for the rest…
“What do you think?” Mrs. Snowberry’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“It looks like a complete gut job in here,” he said. “Not a lot of original features left.”
And nothing he wanted to save from the horrible, terrible, no-good renovations that disfigured these once-elegant Victorian rooms.
He added, “But this house has good bones. I think we can restore it.”
Behind him, the front door creaked open.
“I’m glad to hear that,” a feminine voice tinged with a soft Gulf Coast accent said. “Hi, Abigail.”
He spun to face the newcomer and found himself facing a stylishly dressed Black woman with loosely curling dark hair cut into a bob.
She and Mrs. Snowberry exchanged hugs, then she said, “Nick Evans, I presume? I’m Karla Jones, executive producer ofReviving Snowberry Springs.”
She extended her hand and stepped forward.
Nick stripped off his right glove and shook hands with her. “Pleased to meet you in person at last, Ms. Jones.”
“Call me Karla,” she said, with an irresistibly warm smile. “And may I call you Nick?”
“Of course,” he replied. “Whenever I hear ‘Mr. Evans,’ I think someone’s looking for my dad.”
Her answering laugh was deep and throaty.
“I just saw Winnie driving off,” Karla said. “How did your walkthrough go? Did you two have a chance to discuss your plan for restoring this place?” She tilted her head, her brown eyes studying him. “The plan is to film you and Winnie doing your official walkthrough tomorrow. Both of you need to be on the same page about the scope of work and restoration plan here.”
“You mean, it’s going to be a problem if one of us wants to demolish this beautiful building, and the other person wants to bring it back to life?” Nick asked, not trying to hide his sarcasm.
“Winnie doesn’t want to demolish this house any more than you do,” protested Mrs. Snowberry. “She was merely presenting all the options available within our current budget.”
Nick snorted. “Yeah, right.” He faced Karla. “Look, Winnie Snowberry is absolutely the wrong person to collaborate with on this restoration project.”.
Karla’s eyes widened in surprise. “Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind about working on the show?”
“No, of course not!” Nick protested. “Ilovethe idea of restoring this house. And on my way over here, I saw some other buildings that could use a good restoration, including that gem of a train station.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I just can’t work with someone who has as little respect for historical preservation as—as Winnie Snowberry! Surely there’s someotherphotogenic general contractor in Montana I could work with on your show!”
All the warmth disappeared from Karla’s expression. “Nick, I don’t think you understand how this works,” she said, her tone cool. “Even if I wanted to fire Winnie—which I don’t, by the way—the network execs would never stand for it.”
