Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,34

her and value her thoughts and dreams.”

“This is an idea that I can totally get behind,” Max said as he nodded his head.

“So you’ll help me?”

“Absolutely, when do we start?”

“Tomorrow.”

I didn’t go into the office the next day. Brooke wouldn’t be there, and that would upset me, and I was also super excited to start working on my surprise for her. Max didn’t go into the office, either, but I left a few decent people in charge. There wasn’t too much on the schedule for today, aside from the continued work on the Spokane project, which everyone already knew what they were supposed to be doing for.

Max showed up just minutes before the giant truck showed up to drop off the modular container home. I had them place it next to my house, and then after the truck left, Max and I went inside of it to look at the space. Starting from scratch like this could take a while, and I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a factory-made thing.

I wanted Brooke to see and know that Max and I had made this for her by hand, based on her desires. But it couldn’t take too long, either, or God only knew what would happen between Brooke and me in the extended time apart. Max had a good idea to hire just a small skeleton crew of our sub-contractors to come and do some of the heavy lifting while Max and I worked more on the design elements to push the build along quickly. I chose seven people who I knew could handle doing an excellent and fast job. I called them up, and they arrived within the hour. Max and I spent the day sketching up plans while the other guys started laying the interior groundwork.

I tried calling Brooke again, and I sent a couple more messages, too. At least she hadn’t blocked my number this time. The tone of my messages to her changed, and instead of sounding frantic and reactionary on the phone, I sent her text messages that reminded her that I was still here and that I always wanted her and missed her. I asked Max to try to call her, too, just to see if she would pick up for him, but she didn’t. She did answer his text message, though.

He had asked her how she was feeling, and her response was “broken.” It shattered my heart to know that she was suffering, but it made me want to work even harder and faster on this surprise. Max texted her back a little gif of a hugging panda bear, and she gave it a heart. At least he was still able to reach her.

We worked until dark, and then we kept working a while even after that. When the sub-contractors left for the night, and Max and I couldn’t think straight about design anymore, I poured him a glass of bourbon. Then the two of us went out to sit by the bonfire for a drink after a good day’s work.

“I need to get this done faster.” I sighed after a long sip of the amber liquid. “I can’t let too much time pass between Brooke and me. It will make matters worse.”

“I agree,” he said. “But there’s only one way that I know to accomplish that.”

I knew what he was referring to—the Spokane project.

If he and I stayed here and built this home for Brooke, and if we pulled the seven sub-contractors off the Spokane project completely, then we would be able to finish this house in a couple of weeks. If not, then it would take months. But I also knew what a risk that would be for the contract. It was such a huge contract with my company. If we blew it, there would be no bouncing back, and word of mouth would get around to other businesses and potential clients. I couldn’t afford to lose the project or screw it up. I also couldn’t lose Brooke.

“Everything is laid out for them, for the most part,” Max said as he tried to help me work through the issue toward a solution. “It will definitely impact the project, and there’s a hefty risk in doing so. The Spokane project could come to a crashing halt. But it’s also possible that your crews and your employees can pull it off based on our direction, and you might be able to have both things at once. It’s up to you; you’re the