I shove my fingers into my hair. “I’m just … my mom said she’d come and see the house.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and I need everything to be perfect.” I look around. “Where is everyone? Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
“They’re at another jobsite that we’re starting in a few days.”
Her tone is so casual that I have to replay the words again in my head. “What?”
“Donny won the bid on a project he’s wanted for years and put me in charge of finding the new crew. I gave him mine, and I’m getting a new one for this job.” She flips the top on her water bottle.
I follow the motion of her throat but instead of being captivated by it, all I want to do is wring her delicate neck. “You what?”
She seems to get that I’m less than pleased with the news of the last few moments, and stares at me with those ridiculously blue eyes. “I just told you.”
My hands slam onto my hips like a toddler about to throw a fit, which isn’t far from the truth. “So, what? We’re supposed to wait around until your leisurely schedule accommodates hiring a new crew? Why wasn’t I informed of this?”
She squares her shoulders and takes a step toward me. “First of all, you’re not my boss—”
“I own this house.”
“Second,” she continues, “if you have a problem with the way things are being run, then take it up with Donny. Third, the crew has been hired and will be here tomorrow. We won’t lose any time because we were ahead of schedule before this happened.” Another step into my space. “And fourth, let’s compare leisure schedules, shall we?” She swings the towel around and it nearly whacks me in the face. “If you’ll excuse me, I have real work to do.” The up and down perusal indicates that she’s evaluated me and found me very lacking.
“I’m not happy about this, and I will be speaking to Donny.”
Her phone is in her hand before the next word comes out of my mouth. She punches the number one on the keypad, and Donny’s name appears on the screen. “Leave it on the table next to my front door.” The phone drops into my hand, and I have to scramble to keep a hold of it.
“Hey, Tiger,” the disembodied voice of Donny Lewis comes through the line.
I fumble the phone but catch it before it falls and put it to my ear. “Donny. It’s Cash.”
“Where’s Tiger? Is she alright?”
“She’s fine.” I lean my good shoulder against the support pole of the back patio. “But I want to talk to you about her decision to give you the Wayland Estate crew and hire a new one for here.”
“Okay.” I can tell by the way he draws out the word that he’s not receptive to me questioning Tiger’s decision.
“I think it’s an irresponsible and shortsighted call. I need this house done before I leave town.”
“And it will be.”
“How? She’s taken the crew that knew everything about the job and replaced them with workers who will have to get up to speed. That can only prolong the project.”
“Have you asked her why she made that decision?” The words are ground out like rocks in a cement grinder.
“Well, no, but I did tell her that I was pretty unhappy with the decision.”
“You’re a moron.”
What the hell? “Do you talk to all your customers like this?”
“Only the ones acting like morons.” He spits out a gust of air. “Listen, Cash, talk to her. I’m sure she’ll explain everything to you. But in the meantime, I can assure you that she hired people who will be up to speed before you can pull your head out of your ass. I trust her, and you should too.”
“How can you know that?” But my question is met with silence. I glance at the phone and see he’s hung up on me. That’s going in my Yelp review. These people need to learn a thing or two about customer service.
I make my way to Tiger’s, determined to get some answers, but when I knock on the door, there’s no reply. “Tiger. I know you’re in there. Open up.” All I hear in return is the music from inside the house being turned up so high it rattles the windows. The growl that rumbles up my throat is pure frustration. I place the phone on the table and notice a vase of flowers sitting there. It’s the arrangement I had