Page 79 of Mayhem
“I have two appointments in the morning but should be finished by eleven-thirty. What happened with Erin?”
“She went to get quotes for her sign today, and they gave her some outrageous prices trying to get over on her.” Cruz watched Paetyn’s jaw tick at the information. “So, I scheduled an appointment with Mike tomorrow and thought we could spend the day with her.”
“Yeah, we can do that. What time are we leaving?”
“The appointment is at two-thirty. So, right when I get off. We’ll drive down, have lunch, then meet with him.” He watched Paetyn nod. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she went, would you?”
“Unfortunately, I do not, but I’m sure we can find out.”
“Good. That way, you can ask them to remake signs for your restaurants. Get them all excited and back out at the last minute.”
Paetyn chuckled at his suggestion, and while Cruz had no issue doing it himself, his business did not need signs. Sending Paetyn made more sense and would look more legitimate.
“That’s childishly petty,” Paetyn informed him.
“I’m aware, but I’m finding it hard to care,” Cruz responded.
The other man nodded. “Well, I guess that makes two of us. We’ll ask her what companies they were tomorrow.”
Cruz watched Paetyn push off the doorframe and head down the hall. As he moved to the weight bench, he hoped she told them.
21
Erin followed Cruz, Paetyn behind her, as they entered the building, which opened into one large workshop. They’d come to Boulder to see if one of Cruz’s associates could make her sign in the style she wanted or one she liked. Before the appointment, they’d stopped and had lunch at a cute, eccentric hole-in-the-wall place when they arrived in town.
Her boyfriend knocked on the open door’s frame, and Erin couldn’t see around him because of his height, but she heard the man inside greet him and tell him to come in. The three walked in, and Cruz introduced her to Mike.
They shook hands, and Erin wondered if there was some rule she’d missed that said attractive men only knew other attractive men because the man that stood in front of her was good-looking, and she noticed it in the way that people always noticed the presence of someone who looked nice. His skin was the shade of cultivated cocoa beans, and his presence was welcoming.
Erin sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk while Mike grabbed another from the corner of the office and sat it beside her. Paetyn took a seat to her right and Cruz to her left.
“So, Cruz tells me you’re looking to get a sign made for your business,” Mike stated when he sat on the other side of the desk, getting down to business.
“I am,” Erin responded, reaching into her purse and pulling out her tablet. “I have the design drawn out and know the size I’m looking for.”
She brought up the drawing on her tablet, having drawn it on there once she’d gotten the paper sketch the way she wanted it. Erin handed the tablet across the desk to Mike.
He looked at it for a few minutes, zooming into the different parts before setting the tablet on the desk. “The detail in this drawing is incredible. Translated to sign form, it’s going to be eye-catching. How big were you looking to get it?”
“Thank you. Four and a half feet by three feet,” Erin replied.
“Do you have a picture of the space you want it to go in? It’ll help narrow down the style of sign that will fit best,” Mike stated.
Erin turned the tablet toward herself, went to the image gallery, and found pictures of the outside of the building. Then, she turned it back toward him.
“This is the entire building. The left side is mine.”
Mike was quiet again as he looked at the pictures. “Okay,” he started, opening one of his drawers and pulling out a binder. “I have four styles that will work well in that space.” He pulled the four out and placed them on the desk before her.
Erin was happy the style she originally wanted was among them, but another one caught her eye. She hadn’t seen a sign that looked like that when she’d been shopping around.
“Originally, this was the style I wanted,” she stated, tapping the second option. “But this one,” she continued, pointing to the third option. “Has me unsure now.”
“We can go into the workshop, and I can show you a couple of each to see how they look up close.”
“That would be great,” Erin responded.
Mike led them into the workshop and showed her two signs in her chosen style—one for a pet store and one for a comic bookstore. He then showed her two signs in the other style—onefor a hair salon and one for a bridal shop. Erin wasn’t closer to deciding between them when they stepped back into his office.
