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“Thanks, Ashley. You’re the best. Yes, you can have them shipped directly to the house.” She rattled off the address for the Ong house, which only served to piss him off more, before hanging up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He couldn’t keep his anger hidden. In fact, he didn’t want to, didn’t even try. She should absolutely hear how pissed he was.
“What are you talking about?” Adrian watched the confusion cross her face, and it irrationally fed his anger. She didn’t even know.
“Why are you ordering tile for the Ong house?”
“Because the Ongs agreed that they liked it for their bathroom today?”
“So you’ve already pitched the plans to them? Great. That’s just perfect.”
“What is your problem?”
“You’re my problem. Didn’t we agree that you wouldn’t plan before I got you the inspection reports?”
“Yes, but—”
“And didn’t we say you wouldn’t show it to the clients until we agreed?”
“But—”
“I just got done with that inspection, and there is a major leak under the house. Likely damage to the interior wall.”
“I’ll figure it out,” she said through clenched teeth.
“What if I told you that the wall you wanted to take down is load-bearing? Or that the backyard doesn’t have permit clearances for your expansion?”
“I’d—”
He was too far gone down the path of this rant to listen to her response. His thoughts were spewing out of his mouth as quickly as his brain could pull them up. “I don’t care what you have a degree in. You’ve designed one house. One. I’ve built hundreds. The fact that you ignore my advice shows your inexperience. Maybe it would be better to have those show designers step in. You keep making everything more complicated than it needs to be. We don’t need to knock down walls and expand square footage on every house. We just need to make them livable for these people on a budget. Get your own agenda out of it. And another thing—”
“No.”
“Excuse me?” Her one-word response pulled him up short.
“No. Now it’s my turn to talk. I’m not going to get my agenda out of it. I’m not making them complicated to show off or to prove my skills. Hopefully, that last is a by-product. My designs take an okay room and make it perfect. I don’t thinkanyoneshould have to settle for just okay. Myagendais what I’m getting paid to pursue, and that is designing rooms to be as beautiful as they are functional.”
Adrian drew in a breath to refute her argument, but she stayed him with a raised hand.
“You come into my office and accuse me of breaking our deal. You weren’t here with Jake and Lorena breathing down your neck and Trina filming over your shoulder, demanding something to film to fit their schedule. So yeah, I got started on the designs. I talked through minor color choice and design details with the couples for the camera. I didn’t mention any major feature that I couldn’t guarantee, and I’ve kept fifty percent of the budget open until I see your fucking reports. I’m not an idiot, despite what you think.”
“Then why send—”
She cut him off, clearly not finished ranting.
“Why send you the sketches? To get your feedback. To see if there were any red flags before I create the blueprints. To see if the goddamn wall is load-bearing. I’m going to give them the best damn house their budget will buy. But that’s not what this is really about. It’s about your precious proposal, isn’t it?”
So maybe she wasn’t being as irresponsible as he’d thought, but he was too mad to back down now. Not when he was close to finally getting the truth out of her. “Have you given it any thought?”
“No. My workload has exploded, and I have gotten zero answers to the many, many questions I have asked.”
“So you don’t support it? You don’t think I deserve to own a part of the company I’ve spent twelve years slaving away for?”
“Do you want me to hand away Frankie’s chance at running this company someday?”
“For the last time, that’s not what it would be.”
“Isn’t it? Can you give me any proof that after you buy in, Dad’s not going to make you head contractor? Are you going to bemyboss if I vote yes? Hell no, on all counts. You can’t tell me that’s not how it would be, because he hasn’t told any of us anything. It’s been Frankie’s dream to run this place since before Gabe died.” Sofia’s voice grew louder and higher in pitch as she picked up steam, like a teapot too long on the stove.
