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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 yourway 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.
Still, by late afternoon, the four of us were standing in the room, cups of tea in hand and a packet of chocolate chip cookies mostly decimated. The paint was already mostly dry, but I would leave it overnight to be sure. It was one part of the process where I couldn’t cut corners.
“Thank you, everyone,” I said, beaming at the good job they had done.
“Just don’t forget us when you’re rich and famous,” Matt replied, also smiling.
He had some of the darker paint we’d used on the accent wall in his hair, and Stacy had sort of rubbed it in, giving him this funky, highlighted look. It had also stuck up his hair all over the place, and the paint had dried it like that.
“I’m not going to be rich and famous.” I shook my head but laughed all the same.
“I dunno. I googled this Lukas fella. If you play your cards right, you could be rich and famous.” Emily chuckled, but again, I wasn’t convinced.
“He was confusing and probably not interested, remember?”
Emily didn’t give up, putting her empty cup down. “If he’s not interested, he’s a fool, and I don’t think he’s an idiot when he’s clearly made himself a billionaire.
“He’s a billionaire?” I almost dropped my cup, sloshing tea on myself as I steadied it again. I’d known he was rich, but not that rich.
“And famous. Well, sort of. If you’re in the rich world. He gets some stick for snubbing New York, but he’s made his money well enough that no one minds too much. Rich is rich.” Emily shrugged as if this was common knowledge.
I wasn’t sure that knowing how much money Lukas had helped me. Before, I had known he was wealthy, but that didn’t make him a billionaire. Juno wasn’t and still moved in those circles.
Pushing thoughts of him aside before they could turn to how good our night together had been, I turned back to the room and finished my design. Although we had made good progress today, there was still a lot to do, and I definitely needed to go shopping the next day. I wanted to make sure I had some new clothes before I left.
