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“His three are grown. I need my own babies.” Mrs. Fletcher’s moue game was tight. I could tell she worked him over for her benefit often. She looked a lot younger than him, too. “I’m ready to be a mom.”
He nodded, goofily.Hey... I wasn’t mad. They were married and he should have wanted to make her happy, no matter the expense. Still and all, this was a conversation I had no business being privy to. I caught myself glancing outside of the office at nothing in particular. Until one thing catching my attention was the office administrator, Louise. She seemed to be introducing a Black woman to people in the vicinity. Their backs were to me, and there was another situation I didn’t need to be in the know of.
“Well, we’ve taken up enough of your time,” Mr. Fletcher ended the madness. “Jas, thanks for being a man of your word. You’ve saved me nearly forty grand. I’ll be spreading the Rizzo name around to my friends.” He winked.
I couldn’t come up with a polite way to say,Forget about that name. The only one you need to share is mine. Besides, I hadn’t decided when Rizzo’s name would come off the building just yet.
So, I grinned and shook the hands of the Fletchers. “I’m a man of my word, John. Lewis is gonna walk you guys out.”
Lewis was already on his feet as Chung shook the couple’s hands, saying goodbye. I waved them off then walked over to my desk and collapsed in the chair.
“You did it,” Chung observed out loud.
I sighed, eyes closed. “I told you we would.”
“No, brother. This was all you. Between the Fletchers in Cranberry and the Alvarezes in Watchung, I’ll have my hands full for a little while.”
I rubbed my eyes. “That’s the plan. I eat, I serve everybody. You eat, I’m satisfied.”
Across the room, he played on the computer feeding into the poster-sized monitor on the wall using BIM and CAD software. It allowed us to show the proposed home and its features to clients virtually. “It should take no more than a day for me to implement those additions Mrs. Fletcher mentioned…” he murmured, lost in the blueprints.
My cell phone rang and I was happy to see Mehki’s name on my screen.
“Yo?” I answered.
“Yeah, man. I can do next week while I’m on the East Coast. I’ve got like two vacant locations, possibly three. I’m working on that now. You know how soon she’s looking to move on this? That’ll help a lot.”
“Nah. I ‘on’t know. I got you. I can find out for you. Which days are we talking next week? I need to run it past her.”
“That depends on this third prospect. Give me a couple of days to work on it, and I’ll have answers for next week.”
“You got it, chief.”
“Okay. Cool, Sin.”
As soon as I hung up, Louise was at the door in full beam, walking the Black woman in. The woman now looked like a girl. Her countenance was too damn bright and demeanor green and reserved. Unblemished skin, long thick hair, high heels, small shoulders beneath her suit, and the brightest eyes. The girl was young as fuck.
“And this is Jas,” Louise explained, swinging her arm my way. “We’re able to drop in on him after all.” Both women laughed. Chung stood straight from his chair, looking over to the women. “Oh! Chung!” She shared with the young lady, “Chung Wong here is one of our newer architects. As I explained earlier,Rizzo’s Custom Homes & Developersis under construction in terms of management and even services. Mr. Wong is a modern designer as we’re growing past general design models.”
Chung walked over to shake her hand, tongue practically hanging from his mouth. “Nice to meet you. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Oh!” Louise chirped in realization. “I guess I didn’t do that.” The three of them found that funny. “This is Ava Dallas. She’s the new apprentice and will be studying under us.”
“Oh, yeah?” Chung was checking her out. “For what purposes?”
“She’s deciding where in building she wants to plant her feet,” Louise explained. “She’s a recentBlakewood Universitygraduate with dual bachelor’s degrees.”
“What are your degrees in?” Chung pushed and even I was interested in what the young lady had to say.
“Well,” Her smile was blinding as she turned my way to include me in the conversation. “I have a bachelor’s in business management. I also have one in an accelerated architect program.”
Chung pushed his hands into his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. “In what specific area?”
“BSUhad a new accelerated program with undergraduate courses, including a few that intersect with graduate programs. I took advantage of that. So, my other undergraduate degree is in architecture with the understudy of a Master of science in management.”
He asked, “Does that mean you have your master’s already?”
She shook her head, doe eyes just as innocent as my cousin, Chelsea’s—but different. This girl seemed more fluid in her femininity. Or maybe that’s because Chels was blood and I could never see her even attempting to be sexy. “I earned two bachelors last May. I took a year off to travel and…” She rolled her eyes and laughed at herself, “…grow up. Now, I’m back on the saddle, deciding how soon I’ll return for my master’s. But when I do, it would be an accelerated experience because I’ve done many of the requirements.”
