Two to Tangle (A Tangle Valley Romance #2) - Melissa Brayden Page 0,22

thumb. “Checked on a job of mine a couple miles from here on the way.”

“I didn’t mean to insinuate you were lazy or less than dedicated. Sorry it sounded that way.”

Ryan shrugged. “I’m good.”

“Okay.”

Dammit. Had she made it weird? Should that matter? She was the client, after all, but rapport mattered to her. In fact, Gabriella appreciated the way Ryan seemed to care so much about her job. It spoke to her character, her work ethic. “When did you get started in the business?” She held up a hand. “I’m probably distracting you.”

Ryan shook her head. “Nope.” She hesitated. “Hard to say exactly. I started apprenticing when I was seventeen and went full-time after graduation, learning all I could along the way. I was a day worker first and opened up my own operation six years ago.”

“I forget you’re a kid.”

A pause. Ryan grinned. “Except I’m not. At all.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Twenty-seven?”

“See? Way off. I’m twenty-eight.” Ryan looked at her in victory.

“A baby.”

Ryan scoffed, “And you’re what? All of thirty? So much time on me.”

Gabriella tried to stand taller than her small frame allowed. “Actually, I’m thirty-four.”

“Which is so super different.”

“Oh, you’re a smart-ass,” Gabriella said with a hint of fire. “That’s six years of life on you. Of wisdom.” She caught herself before saying maturity because that seemed unkind.

“Good thing I’m advanced for my age.”

Gabriella laughed until her gaze landed on something that snagged her attention away from the topic. “Wait a sec. The shape of that column is not what we talked about.”

Ryan surveyed the column in front of her. “It’s incredibly close.”

Gabriella came father into the room and stood next to her. “Not close enough.”

Ryan sighed, which she didn’t love. “What’s the issue exactly?”

“What’s the issue?” she repeated, incredulous. “Look at the curve at the base. The sketches you sent over before we started had no curve. You can’t just change what we decided.”

Ryan turned to her. “Very minor in the scheme of things, and I think it adds a little flavor. The sketches are a guide, but sometimes I get pulled a little this way or that way when inspiration strikes. It’s one of the things my clients like about my work. Joey and I actually talked about that very quality when she hired me.” Ryan was downplaying this when it was anything but minor.

“Yeah, well, this is too important to me to defer to your inspiration, okay? Joey handed control to me, and I have a very specific idea of what I want this restaurant to be. I’m the client.”

“You’re the client,” Ryan said with a tight smile, but it was clear she was stifling what she really wanted to say, and that irked Gabriella.

“I say what goes.”

“Right. I think you just said that in different words.”

Gabriella blinked, feeling heard, but patronized, too. Her cheeks heated and her brain sped up. She didn’t like conflict, but she also didn’t shy away from it when it was something that mattered. Fun and fearless. That’s how her mother had always described her.

“You’re definitely in charge,” Ryan stated, then paused, scratched her eyebrow, and looked at the ground. “Just, that doesn’t mean you always know what’s best.”

“Oh, and you do? With your vast restaurant background.”

“I have a little experience about which details make a room pop.” She held her hands up and shrugged, as if minimizing what she seemed to feel passionately about. “But if you want to lose the very regal curve, we can go with a standard column. Boring is fine with me.”

Gabriella blew out a breath, frustrated now and second-guessing herself. “You really think it’ll be boring?”

“I believe you’ve already pointed out that it doesn’t matter what I think, right? You’re the client.”

Oh, that just annoyed her more. Gabriella pinched the bridge of her nose, now overthinking the whole column thing and realizing how behind she was on her food prep for lunch. “Leave it for now. Let me marinate on it. I think I’m just concerned that you’re pivoting from what we discussed, and that has me a little freaked out about what else you’re going to pivot on.”

Ryan seemed to relent, her gaze finding Gabriella’s. “I will be sure to check in with you when a thought like this one occurs.”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

“Right. Got it, boss. No creativity.”

She squinted. Ryan was annoyed. She could tell, and that, in turn, annoyed her. “You don’t have to call me that.”

“Ms. Russo. I apologize.”

“Gabriella is fine.” This was getting worse by the moment, so