Billionaire Blaze, page 12
“You need a weekend off,” Henry said on Friday afternoon when he was getting ready to go home. No doubt he was going to take work with him and do some at home as well, but we all did that to some degree. It was just the nature of the beast sometimes.
“I haven’t got time to take the weekend off. Not if I want to get this new project rolling.”
Henry chuckled and shook his head at me.
“What?” I sat back and crossed my arms, wondering what he found so funny.
“You could sort this project in hours if you wanted to. You’re dragging your heels and procrastinating exactly the way you tell us not to. Take a day or two off, get your head straight, and get back to work on Monday and knock it out.” Henry got up as if this was the last word on the matter and sauntered out of my office.
I was still too stunned to speak or move. Normally, it was me giving my team a stern talking-to, not the other way around.
He had a point, though. Not that I wanted to admit it. This wasn’t like me. And it was all Kit’s fault.
Somehow, she had gotten under my skin, and I couldn’t get her out. I wanted to see her again, but at the same time, I didn’t. Sighing, I pushed up from the desk. I needed to do something else. Anything but this.
I grabbed my phone and called Daniel without hesitation.
“Hey, man. What’s up? Don’t normally hear from you this early in the day. You okay?”
“I think I need a distraction. Or to just chill out for a few. You said there’s always tickets to the next game if I want them. That still good?”
“Yeah. We’re practicing tonight. You can come hang with us if you want. No one would mind if I told them you were with me. Most of the guys know about you and how much you’ve helped me anyway.”
I exhaled, relieved in a way I couldn’t put into words. Being somewhere completely different for a few hours sounded perfect. As soon as I’d hung up, I made my way out of the office and left everything behind. My secretary raised an eyebrow, but she knew better than to say anything, and I wasn’t going to explain, even if she’d asked.
The route to the stadium wasn’t too bad at this time of day, the traffic still low for a few hours more, and the stadium only open to those with an invite. The guys on the barrier came over to my car as I rolled the window down, and I suspected I might get turned away, but they nodded and waved me through.
Daniel had sent the message that I was welcome to the front fast, or I had always been welcome and never put it to the test. Either way, I was soon parked and heading into the stadium.
“Lukas Whitby?” a woman called once I was in the lobby. She was slight and carried an officious-looking folder of paper in her arms. A sports jacket covered her top half, but she wore suit pants with it. If I hadn’t seen a similar combo on many others at the stadium, I’d have found it odd, but it was the smart-casual of the sports world.
“Yes. I’m friends with Daniel.”
“He said you were going to drop in today to watch the training sessions for a bit. Let me show you to the main stand, where you’ll get the best view.” I nodded and let her lead me, the sensible flats she wore not making much noise on the floor as we walked through.
“Daniel was excited that you were going to be here today. Said you do a lot for him. He’s one of our favorites here, although don’t let the others know I said that. If he thinks a lot of you, you’ll find everyone here accommodating to your needs.”
I smiled as she opened a door for me, knowing this treatment was something I got in a lot of places but rarely felt I deserved. Of course, Daniel would think I did. Maybe in his case I deserved it more than others, but I wasn’t beyond admitting that I liked it either way. Being wealthy and well-liked made life a lot easier. It shouldn’t have. Not really. But life wasn’t always fair to everyone.
Daniel spotted me as soon as I walked out into the sunshine and waved up at me from the field. There was a sheltered section near the bottom of the stand, not far from the field, and some of the coaches were there as well.
My guide led me right over and made sure all the coaches knew who I was, most of them giving me their attention for just long enough to establish that I wasn’t a scout or a threat of any kind. Just a good friend of one of their best players.
Not wanting to interrupt training, I thanked the woman and sat down out of the way. Still, one of the coaches came over and shook my hand.
“Daniel has told us all about you helping him so many times. Says you’ve got a good heart and a good mind. We like that combination here. If you have any questions, just send them my way, and we’ll make sure you understand whatever you need to.”
I smiled again and considered thanking the man and leaving it at that, but I’d come here for a reason. To think about something other than Kit. And I was certainly going to try.
“Would you mind talking me through the training?” I asked. As soon as I uttered the words, the man’s face lit up as if I’d just told him that today was Christmas. Clearly, I had asked exactly the right person to talk to me about the team and what they were doing.
Over the next hour, Jason the coach explained absolutely everything I could have wanted to know about the team strategy and what they were all doing. It was fascinating, some of it almost counterintuitive, but all of it coming at me out of the mouth of someone passionate about their job.
For a while, I lost myself in listening, asking questions, and letting him glow in his passion. This was his favorite job, and I was encouraging it. No sooner had Jason finished talking about the training strategy for Daniel, specifically when the man himself jogged over and plopped himself down on the bench beside us.
He was panting and wearing all the gear as if he were playing, but he took the helmet off and beamed at me.
“It’s so good to see you. Do you like the place?” Daniel asked as if my approval meant the world to him, and I nodded, always willing to give it.
“You’ve got a great team here and a lot of support. I’m sorry I didn’t come see you sooner.” I meant every word, feeling better already.
“You already do enough, but I’m glad you like it. Want to stick around for a while and watch us have a practice game in a few hours?”
I nodded, more than willing to stay for the rest of the day. If they were playing especially, although I wasn’t sure exactly who the game would be against.
To my surprise, Daniel didn’t get back on the field but sat next to me and pointed out some of the other players. Once again, I sat back and listened as someone very passionate talked about everything that mattered to them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
When Daniel came back, switching off partway through the game for another player, he had a quick conversation with one of the coaches before coming to sit with me.
“We’re playing well tonight. You’ve caught us doing good. Of course, it’s easy to play well while the pressure is off.” Daniel smiled, clearly happy with everything.
“I think they’re playing well because you are. You inspire them and hold it all together.” I nodded, having just enough understanding of football to know he’d done a good job. His uniform was covered in grass stains and mud, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Daniel looked over at me for a moment, studying me before a shout drew his eyes back to the field. We fell into a companionable silence while the play continued. I sighed, my thoughts turning to Kit immediately.
Again, Daniel glanced at me, but he didn’t say anything. We talked about the game a little more, but it was clear that his team was dominating, and even without him, they played well and finished the game on top. Daniel clapped for them and excused himself to go congratulate his team.
They all disappeared to get changed, cleaned up, and debriefed, but I stayed where I was for a while longer, not sure where to go or what to do now. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Daniel, but the distraction was gone, and I was already wondering what Kit would have made of this game.
Would she enjoy the sport? She’d also been the one to make a suggestion to help Daniel, and I felt a little guilty that he was thanking me and being grateful to me. Had I told him about her?
Again, the thoughts of Kit came crashing back. I knew I would be seeing her again. On top of everything else, I would have to be in the same room as Kit again at some point. And I had no idea if I wanted that or not.
“Would you like me to escort you somewhere more comfortable to wait for Daniel?” a voice asked, making me jump. I swiveled around to see the same young woman who had helped me earlier.
I nodded, simply to increase the chance I would have someone to talk to and not have to sit alone anymore. Being here had helped, but no matter what I did, it seemed my thoughts would return to Kit.
The guide took me through a maze of corridors and in an elevator until we were in a large room with an even better view out and over the field. There were already several people there, including Jason, who had sat with me while Daniel was training and warming up for the game.
He waved me over to him, and I noticed a long trestle table covered in food behind him.
“The entire team will be up soon. Come and have something to eat. There will be plenty, and Daniel will get a kick out of introducing you to everyone else.”
I wasn’t going to say no to good food, the smells already tantalizing. If this was the hospitality I could expect, I might visit more often. Of course, being incredibly wealthy had its benefits, and I knew some of them were being nice to me because of the money. I was a billionaire, and everyone who ought to know who I was by name, did.
A person like me who might decide to invest in a team could make a massive difference. No doubt, they hoped my interest in Daniel could be converted to an interest in the team as a whole.
Daniel was one of the first players to appear, and he came straight over to me as if he knew I would be here.
“Good, you’re digging in to the grub. You’ve always looked like you need it.”
“I need a better fitness instructor to give me more muscle, not more food,” I shot back.
There was more banter as more players arrived, and as Jason had promised, I was introduced to everyone. There were too many names for me to remember, but I knew a few of the players by name even if I hadn’t met them. I prided myself in doing a good job of remembering who people were, but this was beyond me.
Still, they were all decent guys, but they also had much to talk about themselves. After I ignored a few not-so-subtle hints that I might be interested in being a bigger part of the team, no doubt to hand my money over, they left me to talk to Daniel without much bother.
We ended up sitting by one of the windows, plates on our laps as we nibbled at food, everyone else leaving us to it.
“So…why are you really here, Lukas?” Daniel asked, keeping his voice down.
“I wanted to finally see you.”
“That I can believe on one level. But why now? You mentioned needing a distraction. What from? You love your work, that much I know. And you seem well enough. Every time it goes quiet, your mind goes somewhere else. Like something haunts you.”
I sat back a little, losing interest in the food on my plate. I hadn’t mentioned Kit, I was pretty sure of it, and it was time to come clean.
“While I was at Jack’s wedding, I met this woman.”
“Ah, the female problem. Tell me everything you know about her and everything that happened.”
While we finished eating, I told him the entire course of events on the island, but I left out that I’d slept with her.
“She sounds wonderful. Friendly, interested, and not so after you all the time and unable to do her own thing that she’d smother you. Did you get her number?”
I shook my head, surprised at Daniel’s appraisal of her. “She was also the one who made the suggestions I gave you on the way there.”
“So she’s smart too. Have you lost your mind? Why didn’t you get her phone number or an email or something? She sounds perfect for you.”
“There were…red flags, I guess.” I shrugged, surprised and hoping that Daniel would have seen them in the story I gave him.
“Sounds to me like she was a little confused by your behavior. You blew hot and cold.”
This made me frown more. I knew I hadn’t been fully enthusiastic, and in the end, I had been incredibly negative. What was he trying to suggest about the rest?
“Are you upset because you blew it and won’t get another chance, or some other reason I don’t understand? Because I’m not sure what else to say.” Daniel crossed his arms, almost as if he was angry at me, and I threw my hands up.
Affairs of the heart were complicated. And the truth was that I actually didn’t know the answer to the questions he was asking me. How did I feel?
“I will get another chance. Maybe. She is going to be the interior designer for a project I said I would work on.”
Daniel lifted an eyebrow but didn’t look any less confused or exasperated with me.
“I think I’m worried that she was manipulating me. Trying to get something from me she didn’t have.”
“And some women are going to do that. For sure. But if you start out assuming that about everyone you meet, you will see manipulation everywhere. All actions could be misconstrued as manipulative if you fear it enough. Someone could say that me sitting here and listening to you is manipulation. I want you to like me, and I want you to invest in my career. But the truth is, you’re a good friend, and I hope I’m a good person.”
I exhaled, some of the emotion leaving me with it. Was I being paranoid?
Daniel finally relaxed and leaned forward. He placed a hand on mine. “I know you were hurt in the past, but this girl is someone entirely new. And she has friends you know you can trust who have known her a long time. All those are indicators she’s genuine, not fake. Give her a chance if you like her enough to be this upset. Work with her and see how she treats people. It honestly sounds like the perfect way to find out what she’s like before you’re in any deeper.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling better than I had in a long time. I didn’t know exactly what it was about Daniel talking, but he’d hit on an element that Henry hadn’t. Working with Kit was the best way to find out what she was truly like and know if my fears were just that—fears.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kit
There were just three days to go until I was supposed to get on a plane and fly to Chicago, and I still had work to finish in the UK. Although I didn’t usually organize everything myself, my painter had fallen through, and I was trying to get a room finished without him.
It was a pain in the ass, but since they’d offered, I had called in Matt and Stacy to help. Emily was also around for a few hours, and with a few tricks and some masking tape, we were hoping to do a good enough job between the four of us.
The client wasn’t entirely happy, and neither was I, but it was the best I could do and still get the project done on time. Normally, a client was willing to work with me when something went wrong if I told them the fix would keep everything moving on schedule. But not this time.
This time, my client would rather it took longer, but no one was at the house in the evenings, and that meant no access. Which meant Matt had to take some time off work, and I was in a room painting when I needed to be buying the last things I needed for my trip. Of course, the shops I needed wouldn’t be open later.
It was infuriating in many ways.
On the upside, Sarai was already letting me know that the first of the rental units was almost ready for me to begin filling the space. Apparently, Lukas had begun designing so fast, and the builders were familiar with Sarai and Richard enough that everything was running smoothly.
Of course, I knew money and good connections made a world of difference when it came to these sorts of things. If you had money to hire people fast or had people you knew who worked well, it got a project moving and kept it on the rails.
Sarai was one of those people. And it would make my job a lot easier to have her on the project. Her people were clearly efficient. From how pleased she was so far, I could only assume they were good.
It made me excited to be there, although my nerves about Lukas also being involved had increased. It wouldn’t be long now before I would have the chance to see him again. It sounded as if he was pretty much done with the project, but I knew it was being built and finished off in waves.
“Kit, you in there?” Matt called, the first to arrive, as usual.
“In the back room,” I called back to him. Ever since I started this career, I’d learned to do the front rooms first in any design with multiple rooms. The ones the client would see first.
It made the client happier to see what had already been done as their first impression every time they looked it over. The strategy wasn’t always possible, and it could backfire if it took too much longer to do the latter parts, but in general, it led to happier, more satisfied customers.
Matt came to me, carrying paint cans and all sorts of other supplies. Stacy wasn’t far behind him, and both of them smiled happily.
“Looks like we’ve got a big, awkward room to paint. No wonder you need help. Let’s get this done and get you on your way to your next big adventure.” Matt grinned at me as if he was as excited to see me go as I was to get going.
It made me feel better, and I grabbed a paint can and cracked it open. I’d spent the last while prepping the room, so it was at least ready for their help.
Within an hour, Emily also arrived, and the four of us blasted through the task list. We were surprisingly efficient. The walls were soon painted, and we were working on the delicate edges. It was a surprise how quickly we managed to do it, and almost immediately, I felt better.
The furniture was almost all ready to go in as well, and then I would just have to spend a day finishing up the details, which put me back on schedule. Of course, that assumed the client would like it and that nothing went wrong while the paint dried.
“I haven’t got time to take the weekend off. Not if I want to get this new project rolling.”
Henry chuckled and shook his head at me.
“What?” I sat back and crossed my arms, wondering what he found so funny.
“You could sort this project in hours if you wanted to. You’re dragging your heels and procrastinating exactly the way you tell us not to. Take a day or two off, get your head straight, and get back to work on Monday and knock it out.” Henry got up as if this was the last word on the matter and sauntered out of my office.
I was still too stunned to speak or move. Normally, it was me giving my team a stern talking-to, not the other way around.
He had a point, though. Not that I wanted to admit it. This wasn’t like me. And it was all Kit’s fault.
Somehow, she had gotten under my skin, and I couldn’t get her out. I wanted to see her again, but at the same time, I didn’t. Sighing, I pushed up from the desk. I needed to do something else. Anything but this.
I grabbed my phone and called Daniel without hesitation.
“Hey, man. What’s up? Don’t normally hear from you this early in the day. You okay?”
“I think I need a distraction. Or to just chill out for a few. You said there’s always tickets to the next game if I want them. That still good?”
“Yeah. We’re practicing tonight. You can come hang with us if you want. No one would mind if I told them you were with me. Most of the guys know about you and how much you’ve helped me anyway.”
I exhaled, relieved in a way I couldn’t put into words. Being somewhere completely different for a few hours sounded perfect. As soon as I’d hung up, I made my way out of the office and left everything behind. My secretary raised an eyebrow, but she knew better than to say anything, and I wasn’t going to explain, even if she’d asked.
The route to the stadium wasn’t too bad at this time of day, the traffic still low for a few hours more, and the stadium only open to those with an invite. The guys on the barrier came over to my car as I rolled the window down, and I suspected I might get turned away, but they nodded and waved me through.
Daniel had sent the message that I was welcome to the front fast, or I had always been welcome and never put it to the test. Either way, I was soon parked and heading into the stadium.
“Lukas Whitby?” a woman called once I was in the lobby. She was slight and carried an officious-looking folder of paper in her arms. A sports jacket covered her top half, but she wore suit pants with it. If I hadn’t seen a similar combo on many others at the stadium, I’d have found it odd, but it was the smart-casual of the sports world.
“Yes. I’m friends with Daniel.”
“He said you were going to drop in today to watch the training sessions for a bit. Let me show you to the main stand, where you’ll get the best view.” I nodded and let her lead me, the sensible flats she wore not making much noise on the floor as we walked through.
“Daniel was excited that you were going to be here today. Said you do a lot for him. He’s one of our favorites here, although don’t let the others know I said that. If he thinks a lot of you, you’ll find everyone here accommodating to your needs.”
I smiled as she opened a door for me, knowing this treatment was something I got in a lot of places but rarely felt I deserved. Of course, Daniel would think I did. Maybe in his case I deserved it more than others, but I wasn’t beyond admitting that I liked it either way. Being wealthy and well-liked made life a lot easier. It shouldn’t have. Not really. But life wasn’t always fair to everyone.
Daniel spotted me as soon as I walked out into the sunshine and waved up at me from the field. There was a sheltered section near the bottom of the stand, not far from the field, and some of the coaches were there as well.
My guide led me right over and made sure all the coaches knew who I was, most of them giving me their attention for just long enough to establish that I wasn’t a scout or a threat of any kind. Just a good friend of one of their best players.
Not wanting to interrupt training, I thanked the woman and sat down out of the way. Still, one of the coaches came over and shook my hand.
“Daniel has told us all about you helping him so many times. Says you’ve got a good heart and a good mind. We like that combination here. If you have any questions, just send them my way, and we’ll make sure you understand whatever you need to.”
I smiled again and considered thanking the man and leaving it at that, but I’d come here for a reason. To think about something other than Kit. And I was certainly going to try.
“Would you mind talking me through the training?” I asked. As soon as I uttered the words, the man’s face lit up as if I’d just told him that today was Christmas. Clearly, I had asked exactly the right person to talk to me about the team and what they were doing.
Over the next hour, Jason the coach explained absolutely everything I could have wanted to know about the team strategy and what they were all doing. It was fascinating, some of it almost counterintuitive, but all of it coming at me out of the mouth of someone passionate about their job.
For a while, I lost myself in listening, asking questions, and letting him glow in his passion. This was his favorite job, and I was encouraging it. No sooner had Jason finished talking about the training strategy for Daniel, specifically when the man himself jogged over and plopped himself down on the bench beside us.
He was panting and wearing all the gear as if he were playing, but he took the helmet off and beamed at me.
“It’s so good to see you. Do you like the place?” Daniel asked as if my approval meant the world to him, and I nodded, always willing to give it.
“You’ve got a great team here and a lot of support. I’m sorry I didn’t come see you sooner.” I meant every word, feeling better already.
“You already do enough, but I’m glad you like it. Want to stick around for a while and watch us have a practice game in a few hours?”
I nodded, more than willing to stay for the rest of the day. If they were playing especially, although I wasn’t sure exactly who the game would be against.
To my surprise, Daniel didn’t get back on the field but sat next to me and pointed out some of the other players. Once again, I sat back and listened as someone very passionate talked about everything that mattered to them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
When Daniel came back, switching off partway through the game for another player, he had a quick conversation with one of the coaches before coming to sit with me.
“We’re playing well tonight. You’ve caught us doing good. Of course, it’s easy to play well while the pressure is off.” Daniel smiled, clearly happy with everything.
“I think they’re playing well because you are. You inspire them and hold it all together.” I nodded, having just enough understanding of football to know he’d done a good job. His uniform was covered in grass stains and mud, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Daniel looked over at me for a moment, studying me before a shout drew his eyes back to the field. We fell into a companionable silence while the play continued. I sighed, my thoughts turning to Kit immediately.
Again, Daniel glanced at me, but he didn’t say anything. We talked about the game a little more, but it was clear that his team was dominating, and even without him, they played well and finished the game on top. Daniel clapped for them and excused himself to go congratulate his team.
They all disappeared to get changed, cleaned up, and debriefed, but I stayed where I was for a while longer, not sure where to go or what to do now. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Daniel, but the distraction was gone, and I was already wondering what Kit would have made of this game.
Would she enjoy the sport? She’d also been the one to make a suggestion to help Daniel, and I felt a little guilty that he was thanking me and being grateful to me. Had I told him about her?
Again, the thoughts of Kit came crashing back. I knew I would be seeing her again. On top of everything else, I would have to be in the same room as Kit again at some point. And I had no idea if I wanted that or not.
“Would you like me to escort you somewhere more comfortable to wait for Daniel?” a voice asked, making me jump. I swiveled around to see the same young woman who had helped me earlier.
I nodded, simply to increase the chance I would have someone to talk to and not have to sit alone anymore. Being here had helped, but no matter what I did, it seemed my thoughts would return to Kit.
The guide took me through a maze of corridors and in an elevator until we were in a large room with an even better view out and over the field. There were already several people there, including Jason, who had sat with me while Daniel was training and warming up for the game.
He waved me over to him, and I noticed a long trestle table covered in food behind him.
“The entire team will be up soon. Come and have something to eat. There will be plenty, and Daniel will get a kick out of introducing you to everyone else.”
I wasn’t going to say no to good food, the smells already tantalizing. If this was the hospitality I could expect, I might visit more often. Of course, being incredibly wealthy had its benefits, and I knew some of them were being nice to me because of the money. I was a billionaire, and everyone who ought to know who I was by name, did.
A person like me who might decide to invest in a team could make a massive difference. No doubt, they hoped my interest in Daniel could be converted to an interest in the team as a whole.
Daniel was one of the first players to appear, and he came straight over to me as if he knew I would be here.
“Good, you’re digging in to the grub. You’ve always looked like you need it.”
“I need a better fitness instructor to give me more muscle, not more food,” I shot back.
There was more banter as more players arrived, and as Jason had promised, I was introduced to everyone. There were too many names for me to remember, but I knew a few of the players by name even if I hadn’t met them. I prided myself in doing a good job of remembering who people were, but this was beyond me.
Still, they were all decent guys, but they also had much to talk about themselves. After I ignored a few not-so-subtle hints that I might be interested in being a bigger part of the team, no doubt to hand my money over, they left me to talk to Daniel without much bother.
We ended up sitting by one of the windows, plates on our laps as we nibbled at food, everyone else leaving us to it.
“So…why are you really here, Lukas?” Daniel asked, keeping his voice down.
“I wanted to finally see you.”
“That I can believe on one level. But why now? You mentioned needing a distraction. What from? You love your work, that much I know. And you seem well enough. Every time it goes quiet, your mind goes somewhere else. Like something haunts you.”
I sat back a little, losing interest in the food on my plate. I hadn’t mentioned Kit, I was pretty sure of it, and it was time to come clean.
“While I was at Jack’s wedding, I met this woman.”
“Ah, the female problem. Tell me everything you know about her and everything that happened.”
While we finished eating, I told him the entire course of events on the island, but I left out that I’d slept with her.
“She sounds wonderful. Friendly, interested, and not so after you all the time and unable to do her own thing that she’d smother you. Did you get her number?”
I shook my head, surprised at Daniel’s appraisal of her. “She was also the one who made the suggestions I gave you on the way there.”
“So she’s smart too. Have you lost your mind? Why didn’t you get her phone number or an email or something? She sounds perfect for you.”
“There were…red flags, I guess.” I shrugged, surprised and hoping that Daniel would have seen them in the story I gave him.
“Sounds to me like she was a little confused by your behavior. You blew hot and cold.”
This made me frown more. I knew I hadn’t been fully enthusiastic, and in the end, I had been incredibly negative. What was he trying to suggest about the rest?
“Are you upset because you blew it and won’t get another chance, or some other reason I don’t understand? Because I’m not sure what else to say.” Daniel crossed his arms, almost as if he was angry at me, and I threw my hands up.
Affairs of the heart were complicated. And the truth was that I actually didn’t know the answer to the questions he was asking me. How did I feel?
“I will get another chance. Maybe. She is going to be the interior designer for a project I said I would work on.”
Daniel lifted an eyebrow but didn’t look any less confused or exasperated with me.
“I think I’m worried that she was manipulating me. Trying to get something from me she didn’t have.”
“And some women are going to do that. For sure. But if you start out assuming that about everyone you meet, you will see manipulation everywhere. All actions could be misconstrued as manipulative if you fear it enough. Someone could say that me sitting here and listening to you is manipulation. I want you to like me, and I want you to invest in my career. But the truth is, you’re a good friend, and I hope I’m a good person.”
I exhaled, some of the emotion leaving me with it. Was I being paranoid?
Daniel finally relaxed and leaned forward. He placed a hand on mine. “I know you were hurt in the past, but this girl is someone entirely new. And she has friends you know you can trust who have known her a long time. All those are indicators she’s genuine, not fake. Give her a chance if you like her enough to be this upset. Work with her and see how she treats people. It honestly sounds like the perfect way to find out what she’s like before you’re in any deeper.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling better than I had in a long time. I didn’t know exactly what it was about Daniel talking, but he’d hit on an element that Henry hadn’t. Working with Kit was the best way to find out what she was truly like and know if my fears were just that—fears.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kit
There were just three days to go until I was supposed to get on a plane and fly to Chicago, and I still had work to finish in the UK. Although I didn’t usually organize everything myself, my painter had fallen through, and I was trying to get a room finished without him.
It was a pain in the ass, but since they’d offered, I had called in Matt and Stacy to help. Emily was also around for a few hours, and with a few tricks and some masking tape, we were hoping to do a good enough job between the four of us.
The client wasn’t entirely happy, and neither was I, but it was the best I could do and still get the project done on time. Normally, a client was willing to work with me when something went wrong if I told them the fix would keep everything moving on schedule. But not this time.
This time, my client would rather it took longer, but no one was at the house in the evenings, and that meant no access. Which meant Matt had to take some time off work, and I was in a room painting when I needed to be buying the last things I needed for my trip. Of course, the shops I needed wouldn’t be open later.
It was infuriating in many ways.
On the upside, Sarai was already letting me know that the first of the rental units was almost ready for me to begin filling the space. Apparently, Lukas had begun designing so fast, and the builders were familiar with Sarai and Richard enough that everything was running smoothly.
Of course, I knew money and good connections made a world of difference when it came to these sorts of things. If you had money to hire people fast or had people you knew who worked well, it got a project moving and kept it on the rails.
Sarai was one of those people. And it would make my job a lot easier to have her on the project. Her people were clearly efficient. From how pleased she was so far, I could only assume they were good.
It made me excited to be there, although my nerves about Lukas also being involved had increased. It wouldn’t be long now before I would have the chance to see him again. It sounded as if he was pretty much done with the project, but I knew it was being built and finished off in waves.
“Kit, you in there?” Matt called, the first to arrive, as usual.
“In the back room,” I called back to him. Ever since I started this career, I’d learned to do the front rooms first in any design with multiple rooms. The ones the client would see first.
It made the client happier to see what had already been done as their first impression every time they looked it over. The strategy wasn’t always possible, and it could backfire if it took too much longer to do the latter parts, but in general, it led to happier, more satisfied customers.
Matt came to me, carrying paint cans and all sorts of other supplies. Stacy wasn’t far behind him, and both of them smiled happily.
“Looks like we’ve got a big, awkward room to paint. No wonder you need help. Let’s get this done and get you on your way to your next big adventure.” Matt grinned at me as if he was as excited to see me go as I was to get going.
It made me feel better, and I grabbed a paint can and cracked it open. I’d spent the last while prepping the room, so it was at least ready for their help.
Within an hour, Emily also arrived, and the four of us blasted through the task list. We were surprisingly efficient. The walls were soon painted, and we were working on the delicate edges. It was a surprise how quickly we managed to do it, and almost immediately, I felt better.
The furniture was almost all ready to go in as well, and then I would just have to spend a day finishing up the details, which put me back on schedule. Of course, that assumed the client would like it and that nothing went wrong while the paint dried.
