“Perfect. Send me the details by the end of the day.”
She ended the call, set the phone down, then leaned back in her chair, finally looking at me fully.
“How can I help you, Mr. Sinclair?”
“Mr. Sinclair, huh?”
“That is your name, right?”
My eye twitched.
“I had a question,” I said, biting back my smart ass remark. “You said if I had any questions about the renovation, we could talk. So here I am.”
She nodded once.
“Okay, what’s the question?”
“How much did it cost you?”
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Just under seventy-five thousand.”
Then she gestured around the room. “But that included all this. I had a lot of personalization and custom things done. And with it being so last minute, I ended up paying rush fees.”
I looked around again then back at her.
“I want to reimburse you.”
She didn’t react. “There’s no need.”
“Yes, there is,” I said, leaning forward slightly. “It’s my company. I should reimburse you for any out-of-pocket expenses. Especially since the team looks like they love it so much.”
“I said it’s fine. You don’t need to,” she said finally. “Anything else?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry about running out on you like that, I feel like we should talk a little bit about what to do.”
Her expression didn’t change much.
“You know you don’t have to,” she said. “I understand your position.”
It didn’t feel like understanding.
“Please,” I said. “All I ask for is dinner.”
She held my gaze for a second longer this time. Then nodded once. “Okay.”
“I’ll send a car to pick you up at eight,” I added.
“Alright.” She was still not giving me anything to hold onto.
I didn’t like this version of distance that was coming from her. At all.
By the timeshe stepped out of the car, I was outside waiting.
I don’t usually do that. Normally I let people come in, get settled, then I meet them where they are. Scratch that, I didn’t let people in my house at all. But tonight I couldn’t sit still.
I watched her through the window before she even opened the door.
She looked good.
