Page 64 of Saltwater Memories
“The place is a total dump, Gordon. Lenny kept telling me that they had people living there and that they were working on it, but that was a lie. The lobby is in shambles, it smells like raccoons peed on everything, and I could see water damage on the ceilings and on the walls. It’s in really poor shape.”
“Don’t worry about that. We can fix it.”
“But that’s the thing – what kind of investment is this? I didn’t go into any of the units, but there’s no way that they look anything like the pictures they gave us. Who did the walk-through on this? Do we have someone on our team who has Lenny’s best interests at heart instead of ours?”
“I said don’t worry about it.” Gordon said firmly. “If you can’t handle a challenge, then I’ll find someone who will.”
“I can handle it, of course I can handle it,” Will said quickly. “I’m just thinking that – ”
“Stop thinking. I don’t pay you to think, I pay you to work. Quit being an idiot, Will. Don’t call me about this again.”
Out of all of the arguments he’d had with his boss in the past, he’d never before felt like they weren’t talking about the same thing.
How many millions would they need to sink into that building to make it livable again? There was no way they were pulling in millions a year for rent – there weren’t even people living there, except that one angry lady!
There was just no way that the sale made sense. Maybe if they bulldozed it and built a brand new building? But then what was the point of planning to invest in the property? Was it a zoning thing? Had his boss gotten the wool pulled over his eyes and now he was too ashamed to back down?
Worst of all, their team was already stretched to the limit working on the other properties, particularly the estate. It could be months before they even got into this building.
He didn’t think that Amanda was right – it didn’t look like there was any sort of mob activity going on at the building. It was just a piece of junk. Will didn’t know what to make of it.
His phone rang – the landscaper. “Hello?”
“Hey, we pulled up a patch of bushes and found some kind of a stone patio. Flagstone, I think. You probably want to check it out – decide if it’s something that we need to keep or redo.”
“I’ll be right there.”
The apartment building wasn’t his problem – at least not for now. He needed to focus on the work he had; that was what they were paying him for.
