Page 63 of All Yours

“I’m waiting on the electrical crew now. Plumbing is two days behind, and the HVAC crew wants to start early, but I’m afraid that them and electrical will end up tripping over each other and someone will get pissed.”

“Why is plumbing behind? Should we be concerned?”

“Nah,” I said, scrolling through the schedule spreadsheet on my tablet. “There was an issue with parts, but they got it sorted. And I built in buffer time in the schedule from the beginning. There were several supply chain issues going on, and I wanted to take that into account.”

“Smart.”

“Not my first rodeo.”

“So, we won’t need to push insulation and drywall?”

“They say they’re ready to go. Should be fine.”

“Are you still making me go to the Pennington Christmas Party?”

“Only if you want to make good contacts to get more jobs after this.”

He grimaced. “That old lady undresses me with her eyes.”

“Well, objectively, you are the prettiest man in town,” I said, scrolling through the schedule on the tablet.

“Fuck you.”

“Even pretty, you’re not my type.”

“Ha, you’re so clever,” he quipped. “Speaking of parties. What kind of celebration should we have for the grand opening?” He asked, turning his back to the heater, and staring out over the lake.

“Not my area of expertise, my friend,” I said, checking the time. The electrician and his crew were late. “I just oversee the construction. Ask Lauren.”

“Just thought I’d give you some input if ya wanted. It’s as much—”

“Jonah Barnes,” a woman’s voice called. “Jonah”

On the other side of the chain link construction fence stood a woman in a blue coat, and a man holding a camera on his shoulder. She waved and motioned for me to come over.

“What the hell is going on?” I muttered to Camden.

“That appears to be a news reporter.”

“Should I go over there or just ignore them?”

“They might want to talk to you about the new Hart-Carter Commons?” he offered.

I shook my head. “You’re the public face of the project. They wouldn’t be calling for me.”

“What else would they be here for?”

We gave each other the side-eye. “Sloane,” I said. “It has to be about her, right?”

“Or your boxing match with Sinclair,” he said, walking away from the heater and toward the reporter. I sighed, with a lump growing in my gut, that this was a mistake, and followed.

“What can we help you with?” Camden asked when he got to the fence.

The reporter looked at me despite Camden addressing her. “I’m Erin Eggert with News One Now, and I wanted to ask you some questions about Julia Simmons.”

“No,” I said, and turned around.

“Do you have any comments on Sebastian Sinclair’s revelation that management set his relationship with Julia up for publicity and was fake?”

---