Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,54

grating cheese into scrambled eggs. I looked at them for some backup.

“I’m not stepping into this one,” Jasper said. “But money talks. We’ll see what we think when faery gold is in hand.”

“I hope, for your sake, that it is gold and not an illusion,” Gaston said.

Well, I guess it was understandable that the faeries were regarded with suspicion. They hadn’t lived among us for centuries.

“So you’re starting on the kitchen?” Billie said. “What are you thinking for it?”

“Jasp and I are going out to get the materials today,” Jake said. “An upscale, light color scheme.”

“I was thinking that a little bit of a fun, country kitchen feel would be nice,” Billie said. “I mean, we’re out here in the country. That bathroom you did was beautiful but I do have to say that it doesn’t fit the rest of the house, does it?”

I bristled. “That bathroom is a masterpiece.”

“But it’s so modern and gray! And this house is so sweet!”

“This house isn’t sweet, it’s grand. And eclectic,” I said.

“Well, I do like the bathroom, but it’s very modern,” Billie said, but now I could tell she didn’t like the bathroom at all.

“The kitchen won’t be as modern as the bathroom,” Jake said. “The colors will be warm, not cold, and the fixtures will have an antique look. I’ll show you a mockup on my iPad after breakfast before we go back out shopping.”

“So you made mockups and everything. Of course you did. The three of you already know what you want to do.”

“I mean…we’re open to suggestions,” I said.

Growl. I hated sharing a house with someone who had a totally different style. I didn’t really want to share kitchen ideas with Billie. But it was her house. She had definitely picked up the vibe that I didn’t like to work in a team.

“Take a look at the cottage,” Gaston said. “We worked diligently and I think you’ll be impressed.” I wondered how of it he had actually done, anyway.

They had definitely worked it. The cobwebby old kitchen was now an extremely clean and livable space with lots of storage. The dark, smoky old wood had been brightened up.

But it was completely off from anything I would do. The cottage was not just painted but fully furnished, with decorative china plates hanging around the old stove, brass candleholders, antique chairs and tables with curvy legs, the old kitchen cabinets repainted in pale green, and a sign that said “CREATE” on the wall. Although there was not actually a whole lot of space to create anything, despite the easel in the corner.

It’s not that it wasn’t cute. It was, for the right buyer. But it was curated for a very specific type of client—a certain type of country witch. And we didn’t even know our clients. Billie and I were totally different types of flippers. I was more about getting old houses in shape while preserving their magical elements. Billie was more about a lifestyle brand.

“You don’t like it, do you?” Billie’s lips pursed. “Of course we don’t have the same style anyway, and the whole idea that these faeries would come pay good money for it, and—I don’t know what faeries like, but I’m not sure you really do either based on the way you talk.” She was getting heated.

“I do like it! I just think this whole project is a disorganized mess! We have so much to do!”

“And anyway, y’all work together so well, you don’t even want to hear from me! You’re doing all the main rooms in the house by yourself why you’re flirting with each other all day,” Billie said, “and it doesn’t matter anyway. I poured more of me into it than I should have. That’s all. I went overboard.”

Jake glanced at me. Billie thought she might die opening Pandora’s Box and maybe she felt like this was her last project. I guess, with that in mind, scraping paint for twelve hours a day didn’t have much allure. Who wanted to spend their final days doing that? But instead, I’d been doing it all by myself while Billie just set aside her own fun project.

We were definitely taking over the house plans, though. And flirting. She was not wrong.

I sighed.

I wondered how we ever expected to bring down the barriers between worlds if the two of us couldn’t even get along. I wondered how I expected to be with four men if I couldn’t cooperate with one other person.

“Let’s start over with the kitchen plan,”