‘No, I agree. It’s very hit and miss. Like life, I suppose.’
‘That’s true!’ Marie said, crossing her arms and giving me another wide smile. ‘I like her,’ she continued, turning to Jesse then back to me. ‘Are you with someone? I don’t see a wedding ring.’
‘Marie.’ Jesse’s voice was low and the warning in it was unmistakable.
I liked this woman with her open and ready smile and forthright ways.
‘No,’ I said with a laugh. ‘But I’m not looking for anyone either.’
‘Some of the best things happen when we’re not actively looking for them. Isn’t that right, Jesse?’
Jesse was now standing with his feet planted apart, arms crossed – mentally and physically blocking what he clearly considered to be Marie’s nonsense. At her question, one brow rose.
‘He agrees,’ she said, turning back to me. ‘He just doesn’t want to admit I’m right. Typical man, you know.’
‘Are you done?’ Jesse asked, but, as much as he tried to hide it, I could see the light of amusement dancing in his eyes.
‘For the moment. Although I expect updates.’
‘There won’t be any updates. Now give me a hug so we can get on our way.’
Marie flung her arms out and they hugged once more.
‘Lovely to meet you too,’ she said, holding out her hand and taking mine, then laying her other on top of it. ‘I’d say I hope you enjoy working with this one,’ she tilted her head towards Jesse, ‘but I already know the answer. He’s one of the good guys.’
‘Thanks,’ I replied. ‘I’m sure I will.’
‘Sorry about all that,’ Jesse said when we got outside, squinting against the bright, low light of the winter sun.
‘Nothing to apologise for. She’s lovely.’
‘Yeah, she’s great. Mad as a box of frogs, but great.’
I laughed at his choice of words.
‘Tell me more about this project. You said it was the first you did on your own?’
‘That’s right,’ he replied, beeping the doors to the pick-up unlocked and opening the passenger side for me.
‘Thanks.’
He closed the door, and crossed to the driver’s side, his long strides quickly covering the distance. Moments later, he was buckled in beside me and pulling out of the restaurant’s driveway. ‘Marie’s family have owned the place for decades but when it was passed on to Marie and her partner, they had a completely different vision for it.’
‘How did the family feel about that? Sometimes people like others to do what they’ve always done, something that’s familiar. Although I can imagine, having met Marie now, she’s a force to be reckoned with.’
‘You’re right about that. About both aspects. Marie and Yanis certainly wanted to do a lot to the restaurant, but I think the way she got through to the family in the end was to bring them onboard. Show them what the plans were. Having been present at a couple of those meetings, I’m not going to say that it was an easy process for her. I tell you,’ he said, glancing across at me briefly before switching his concentration back to the road, ‘that family can row!’
‘Wasn’t that uncomfortable for you, being caught in the middle of it all?’
‘Absolutely! I tried to leave a couple of times, you know, just say, well, I’ll leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves for a bit, but Marie was having none of that. She told me to keep my backside exactly where it was and, between you and me, I was too scared not to!’
It was hard not to laugh at the thought of this man with all his height and muscle being verbally pinned in place by his far smaller client, but I could understand what he meant. Just from the short interaction I’d had with her, it immediately came across that she wasn’t one to take any crap and I liked that about her.
‘So you didn’t have any disagreements about the project?’
‘There were a couple of heated discussions. Marie was adamant about one particular aspect of the design that the local council overruled. She was so mad, she wanted to go ahead and have the decked terrace put in anyway, but I refused. I knew there was every possibility that if we did that, they could turn round and say it had to be taken down again. That was a fun afternoon.’ He turned and grinned.
‘I can imagine.’ I returned the smile.
