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yum!"
"And butterscotch sauce?" Suzie added. She could feel
herself melting already.
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"I bet chocolate's even better," Matt teased.
Suzie laughed with delight. "We'd better stay with the
whipped cream. Butterscotch and chocolate tend to be a bit
messy."
Matt came back, picked her up in his arms and whirled her
around. "Getting messy is the best part, my little chicadina.
Right, Mike?"
"Sure is." He waggled his dark eyebrows and tried to look
evil. "What do you suggest, Matt? That we stripe her from top
to toe in butterscotch, chocolate and whipped cream, tie her
hands behind her back and make her plead for us to clean her
up?"
"You wouldn't dare," Suzie said, laughing with delight as
Matt swung her around a second time.
"Want to double-dare us?"
* * * *
Later in the evening, as they relaxed by the pool, Mike
said, "So what did you do today, Suzie? Besides clean up the
mess from the flood."
"I printed out my résumé and went looking for a job."
"And?"
"Absolutely nothing at all. The job situation in this town is
non-existent. I left my application at a whole bunch of places,
but I'm afraid none of them looked even slightly promising. I
imagine there'll be a few minimum wage jobs after the
schools re-open in September, but that's about it. In fact, the
way I see things, I have two choices: I can open my own
business and do housecleaning, yard work or dog-walking or
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anything else that doesn't require a fortune in start-up
capital, or I can check out some of the neighboring towns
and, if I find something worthwhile, resign myself to the idea
of commuting back and forth. If neither of those ideas work
out, my only other option is to sell my property for whatever I
can get and either move back to California or go to the
nearest big city."
"Yeah, that's what Matt and I figured about your job
prospects here," Mike said with a sigh. "If you're not born
here and aren't related to the mayor or anyone with
influence, it can be damn tough if not impossible to find
anything. So we came up with a brilliant idea."
"You want to hire me as your housekeeper?" she teased.
"You said you have a degree in business management.
Right?"
Suzie nodded.
"How would you like to manage our business?"
For a moment, Suzie stared at Mike in shock. "Me, work
for you guys? You have enough jobs in a town this size that
you need to hire a full-time manager?"
"We have an office downtown, and we don't do renovations
just here in Woodland," Matt put in. "We have a waiting list of
at least a dozen confirmed projects within a fifty-mile radius,
with more bookings coming in every day. And it wouldn't be
just ordinary, everyday office work like bookkeeping and tax
returns. Our accountant does most of that. We need someone
to do the scheduling and the buying, and generally keep
everything organized.
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"Matt and I will buy the main basic building materials. But
our current workload keeps us so damn busy, we don't have
time to search out the fiddly stuff like a certain shade of paint
or type of fabric, or the perfect ornament for the client's new
hall table. And we don't have hours to spend on the computer
researching new wall finishes or new decorating trends the
way we did when we started out. We need help."
Suzie's head was in a whirl. The job sounded really
intriguing. She loved to shop, and she'd always been careful
to keep her own life well organized, so she couldn't see how
taking care of the administration side of the business would
prove to be that big a deal. "You design all these makeovers
yourselves?"
Mike nodded. "We talk to the client and agree on the
basics of what they want done, and then we take it from
there. I had plans to be an architect, but they didn't work out.
Takes too long to qualify. But we both have degrees in
interior design. We also have a carpenter and a guy who can
do plastering and turn his hand to just about anything
working for us full-time, and qualified people on call for the
plumbing and electrical. Everything else, we do ourselves. But
it's now reached a point where we either cut back on the
number of jobs we accept, or we hire someone to keep
everything organized and also look after buying the specialty
items for each project."
"What do you mean by specialty items?"
"Clients are always asking us to match paint and fabrics to
the exact blue of their wife's eyes, or the same shade of pink
as the baby's first birthday party dress. It can be a
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frustrating, time-consuming job, but it's what our clients have
come to expect, and it's what brings us repeat business and
word-of-mouth recommendations. So, what do you think?"
Suzie sucked in a deep breath. "I'm not sure what to
think."
"Mike said you know a bit about interior decorating and
that's why you bought a house that needed work," Matt said.
"I took a few classes, but I haven't had much time to put
what I learned into practice apart from painting the upstairs
apartment. I've been told I have a good eye for color, but I
think that applies to choosing colors for myself. I don't know
about working for you guys, though. You're professionals. I
wouldn't even know where to start when it comes to finding
one-of-a-kind or unique anything, never mind decorating
items. And as for fabrics, I know the difference between
chintz and microfiber, but I'm no expert."
"At least you have some knowledge of the business we're
in. And what you don't know about the shopping aspect can
always be learned," Mike said as he picked up the wine bottle
and refilled their glasses. "It's not difficult. We'll show you the
project, tell you what we have in mind, and give you a
shopping list. After that, all you need to do is keep the project
details in mind while you're doing the actual buying and be
sure whatever you buy is returnable in case the client doesn't
like it. One of us can go with you until you're confident
enough to do it on your own."
"What do you say? Think you'd like working with us?" Matt
asked.
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"Sure I'd like working with you. At least, I think I would.
But what if I screw up?"
"We'll deduct it from your check."
"Really?"
"No, of course not. Come on, say yes."
"We have a little something for you if you do," Mike added.
"You can call it a signing bonus or incentive or whatever."
"What kind of something?" Suzie chuckled, then touched
her forehead with her closed fist. "Oh, right. I bet it's a hard
hat or a carpenter's apron."
"No."
"What is it?"
"You have to say yes, first."
"And if I say no?"
Matt laughed. "In that case, Mike'll have to take it back,
since it was his idea."
"Okay, I hate surprises and the suspense is killing me. Yes.
I'll come work for you. I'll stand on my head if that's what it
takes. What did you get me?"
"Close your eyes," Mike instructed, "and I'll be right back."
Suzie closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she heard the
patio door open and close and then something warm and soft
was laid in her lap.
She knew at once what it was, but she kept her eyes
tightly shut, partly to hang on to the surprise a tiny bit longer
and also to stop the tears from pouring down her face. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]