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“Hello.” The Shahs replied together, all smiles.
“We will give you a great house under budget and on time. Great house. No problem.”
Maybe he was in pain. This was certainly painful to watch. He was reciting the show pitch and stumbling over it. Dom Valenti, family patriarch and veteran contractor, was pale and shaky. He looked seconds from passing out.
“Breathe, Dad,” Sofia muttered aloud.
“I don’t think he did for that entire segment.” Jake braced his elbows on the desk and cupped his head in his hands. “What a mess!”
When the shot shifted to her and Adrian joking, the sizzle reel found its sizzle again. Was the attraction between them that obvious to everyone else, or was she seeing more than she had before? The rest of the extended commercial looked fine, until Dom came on screen again.
“And that’s why I think you should make Million-Dollar Starter Home a show. Thank you.” He sounded like the end of every bad third grade persuasive essay. He did not sound like the confident owner of his own construction firm who deserved to have millions invested in his show idea.
“So he needs some coaching…” Sofia tried to minimize what was clearly a fiasco. If Dom couldn’t perform on camera, this show was going to tank. He was Valenti Brothers. This was his baby.
“Thatwaswith coaching. Listen, Sofia, now that you’re doing most of the design work, I think it would be best for you to be the voice of the company. You seem comfortable on camera, and…”
“And anyone would be better than that,” she said.
“I was going to say, and it gives you a chance to showcase your brand. But yes, that too.”
Sofia could see the potential. If she got bumped up to a major role, her designs would have to take center stage. Dom wouldn’t be able to dismiss them if they were key to the show. Plus, she’d be in a better position to negotiate what she wanted in the next contracts if the show got picked up.
“Who’s going to tell Dad?”
“Let me figure that out. But you’ll do it?”
“I’ll do it.”
* * *
“And here is your new kitchen!”Sofia forced enthusiasm into her voice. Why had she agreed to do this? Farha and Gautam Shah sat kitty-corner across the table from her at an awkward angle and oohed and ahhed for the third time as she walked them through the Virtual Design CAD rendering of their new space. Again. Apparently the lighting had been off in the first take, and her hair had looked funny in the second. No wonder, since she’d taken to tugging on it in frustration. Instead of her usual ponytail and basic eyes, they’d gone all out to make her “camera-ready.” She was ready to dunk her head in a bucket of cold water, but she clamped down on that urge and excitedly listed the kitchen’s design features one more time.
They had hustled to reshoot all weekend, and the revamped sizzle reel had been sent off to studio execs. What she had been assured was a “bare-bones” crew had descended into her life bright and early Monday morning to begin filming the pilot. Two camera operators, two sound techs, one lighting engineer, three producers, three furiously scribbling assistants, and a gopher were crowded into the Shahs’ outdated dining room. Dom stood just off camera, attached to Jake’s elbow and scowling ever since he’d been told he wouldn’t be needed for this segment. The only person not in the room was the hair and makeup artist, Natalie, and that was only because her setup was out in the garage. Trina, one of the camera operators, had her large black camcorder up on her shoulder and moved with the grace of an acrobat while she captured their reactions around the framing of the still cameras. Sofia tried to act normal, but the lens zooming to focus on her face made her feel self-conscious. She felt her smile stiffening on her face. She could understand why her Dad had struggled. He was such an honest, straightforward guy. A great trait in a contractor, but not so much for a show where he needed to convincingly fake emotions several times in a row. She was much better at pretending to be happy, and even she was struggling here.
“We’ll knock down this wall and extend the kitchen into this formal dining space, nearly doubling your cabinet space while opening up this whole side of the house. You’ll still have room for the large dining table you mentioned as well. Colorful reclaimed wood cabinets on the large island, midrange rustic for the rest, and a white countertop and backsplash to allow your colorful collection of serving dishes to pop. Antique copper farm sink and fixtures. Eclectic, homey, with splashes of color and fun.”
This design had come together during her conversations with the couple who craved a mix of modern functionality and high-tech amenities, with personal touches from home and their travels. It looked nothing like the cookie-cutter fixes her dad usually slapped on a remodel. Sofia couldn’t be happier with the result.
“Are you sure we can afford this? We only have a hundred thousand dollars to spend out of our home equity loan, and we haven’t even seen the master bedroom, bathrooms, or the nursery…” Gautam’s eyebrows furrowed in concern.
Sofia hesitated a split-second before reassuring them.
“Trust me. We’ll give you your dream house under budget and on time. That’s what Valenti Brothers are famous for.”
Producer Jake Ryland’s head popped up at this, but Sofia held her smile firm and confident. True, she’d cut it close on the budget, and if there were any unforeseen complications, it might be difficult to deliver. But if that happened, she’d handle it. Especially with Adrian on her team.
They’d managed to keep their hands and lips to themselves, but the truce was getting harder to maintain. Sofia spent as much time trying not to think about him as she did failing miserably. But she wasn’t ready to revoke it yet, because she was absolutely getting slammed by the production schedule on top of her regular workload. She needed him focused on the reno. She had no doubt that he would help her make this work. He had the skills and know-how, and she trusted his work implicitly. She just prayed that her strength held, because she was starting the most important project of her career, and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by pretty words and a pair of fine eyes. On that thought, she forced her attention back to the design in front of her.
When she’d first met with the Shahs about fixing up their Cambrian bungalow, the consult had gone well. They had a clear design aesthetic and were eager to work with her. The walk-and-talk session through the house had been very productive. Gautam and Farha had both worked in tech in Silicon Valley for eight years and had been frugal with their stock awards, which put them in position to buy a nice three-bedroom fixer-upper in advance of the birth of their first child.
They still seemed excited with her digital mock-ups in front of them, but the technical glitches of filming were wearing down everyone’s enthusiasm. It didn’t help that they were sitting at a prop table in the still-awful late seventies dining room complete with harvest gold sea-grass wallpaper, surrounded by people staring at them. She knew in post-production they would overlay the decor with her CAD designs for maximum impact, but right now it was just depressing.
Farha was fading and rubbing her belly. When Jake yelled cut, Sofia rose to stretch and casually went to check the take. “How was that one?”
“There’s no sparkle. We lost it after that first take.” Jake grimaced and rubbed his forehead.
“I’ve got an idea.” Sofia said. “You can overlay to any room, right?”
