Page 14 of Loyally, Luke
The two men reentered the kitchen where Mr.Holton, Ms.St.Clare, and Pete waited.
Luke took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair, certain he’d met with a few cobwebs, among other things. “The foundation looks sound and most of the underlying structures are in good shape.” Luke turned to Brooks for confirmation and the man nodded his agreement.
Grace Kelly’s posture drooped just a bit as if she were... relieved?
“But multiple floor joists are bad and need to be replaced,” Luke continued. “So we’d need to tear out the floor, but since youwere planning to remodel the kitchen anyway, it could all work together well.”
“And save much more heartache and money in the process, I’d wager,” Mr.Holton offered.
“Than tearing the castle down?” Luke chuckled. “You bet, but I ought to warn you, once we start peeling back parts of the house, we’re bound to find other things to fix.”
“Is that a common occurrence?” Ms.St.Clare directed her question to Brooks, as if double-checking Luke’s words.
There was just no way to win with this woman!
“Yes, Your—” The man paused. “Ms.St.Clare. It’s not only common but expected.”
Her chin lowered just a smidge. Served her right.
“I can’t vouch for what else we might find, but if you have the right team, most problems that arise should be fixable as long as the bones of the building are good.” Luke shrugged a shoulder. “And they seem to be.”
“This particular project is the most pressing and will lead to the greatest immediate help for the orphanage.” Ms.St.Clare studied him with those blue eyes of hers. “But there are other improvements we hope to add as funds and time allow. And as we raise awareness, we hope for additional donors to support the orphanage in order to make those improvements more quickly.”
“Which does bring us to the question of time.” Mr.Holton steadied his attention on Luke. “The Donors’ Banquet is scheduled for mid-May. Do you think these repairs and renovations can be completed by then?”
Luke looked over the kitchen area again, making another quick mental tally. “If you have a good team and not too many surprise complications, then I’d say yes.”
“And you have experience leading such a team?” Ms.St.Clare’s voice held a tinge of doubt.
“I’veleda lot of teams, Ms. St. Clare,” he answered, holding hergaze. “But we’d get the job done faster if it’s agoodteam. At least a few workers who know about building. The others I can direct.”
“Sounds like a hefty cost,” she replied.
Luke had worked with women before, so the idea of having Ms.St.Clare as his supervisor wasn’t the problem. The problem was her doubt and condescension. He almost grinned. Now there was a great vocabulary word too.
“Not as much as tearing down the place and rebuilding it,” he shot back, and something in those eyes flickered with a hint of... fire? Humor? He couldn’t tell and didn’t want to find out. “Like you heard earlier, our cabin doesn’t currently have electricity, but if you could point me in the direction of a place in town with public internet access, then I can do my research for material costs around here and get an estimate to you by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Detailed?” Ms.St.Clare challenged.
“Line by line.” He grinned. “I’ll even use spell-check.”
She narrowed her eyes a second and then looked away, one corner of her mouth twitching.
“You’re welcome to use the internet here, Mr.Edgewood,” Mr.Holton offered, speaking into the tense silence. “Mrs.Kershaw has made her office available for any of our needs.”
“I appreciate that.” Luke turned to Pete. “If Pete will drive me here in the morning, I’ll try to have everything ready for your review by afternoon.”
“Thank you, Mr.Edgewood.” Ms.St.Clare’s quick response paired with her softened smile caused him to do a double take. Was the woman.... nervous? He stifled an eye roll.
Nope. He’d gladly give the estimate and leave this job in someone else’s hands. He didn’t need to spend time working with a woman who sent his thoughts into some sort of ping-pong guessing game. Besides, she was clearly doubting his skills, and nobody needed to work under scrutiny like that.
As soon as he and Pete were in the car, Pete turned to him. “Ms. St. Clare reminds me of somebody, but I can’t figure out who. Does she make you think of anyone?”
A villain. Luke shrugged. “A movie star?”
“Hmm, perhaps that’s it, though I’m not up on my Skymarian actors.” Pete put the car into gear. “But her bein’ a movie star would suit the situation, wouldn’t it? Since your life is kind of like a movie right now anyway.”
Luke didn’t respond. No way he was walking into that conversation.
