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“Can I measure? To help with the estimate?”
“Please do.” The phone attached to his belt rang. “Excuse me a minute.”
I pulled out my measuring tape, glad I brought the heavy-duty one as it was longer, and measured the length and the height, making notes in my notepad as I went along. I’d have to break the artwork into segments as I didn’t have the space to do something so large, but it was definitely workable, especially incorporating his vision of different scenes. Like the small artwork I did for Dr. Chloe Tarkin, but on a much grander scale. Scratching the measurements down, I added his ideas as well, and drew out a quick design, so I wouldn’t forget.
David walked back, leaning over my shoulder as I wrote. “Don’t forget the beach idea.”
I breathed in a heady, woody scent. It was intoxicating as hell, if not a little overpowering.
“Got it.” I added a starfish to help cement it for him.
“Excellent.”
Trying not to roll my eyes at his controlling nature, I took a hard blink. “You said you had two ideas?”
“Oh yeah.” He stepped away and walked into the dining area, gesturing for me to follow. “This one is a little more out there, but I’m shutting down the dining area for October and overhauling everything.”
Had there been another slew of food poisoning complaints? I hadn’t heard anything through the gossip queens, and word would spread quickly through the town if there were. Had I gone public with my food poisoning, no doubt he would’ve done something. But that wasn’t who I was, I was the more passive-aggressive type.
David carried on, oblivious to my thoughts. “Private booths will go along that back wall, and I figured I’d like some of those tree pieces you did to go against those walls, one in each booth. But smaller. Say about half the height of what you did for Chloe?” He said her name so casually, I assumed he knew her personally, as most people referred to her as Dr. Tarkin.
“Sure, I can create that no problem.” Those were pretty easy in comparison to the mural, which would be a huge undertaking, with likely an even bigger payout. “How many booths were you thinking?”
Tipping his head to the side, he tucked one hand under his arm as the other settled against his chin. His perfectly coiffed head bounced along as I assumed he counted. “There will be seven new seating areas being constructed.”
“Seven,” I repeated, writing it down. Seven of those pieces alone was great, and I tried to keep my excitement in check. “Time frame?”
“I’d like those before the renos are open, so end of October.”
Totally doable for the table pieces. “And the mural? What kind of time frame are you projecting for that?”
“We’re having the grand re-opening on Halloween, so before that. Is that a problem to have them all done by then?”
“I will take a look at what customs are on my list, and see where I can fit in the mural, as I suspect the time involved will be much greater, and considering the short time frame, I may have to put a rush on it.” I jotted down mid-October for the due date. I hated waiting until the last possible minute for things, and couldn’t do that to a customer, so if he wanted Halloween, I was going to have it ready two weeks beforehand, if I could. “Anything else?”
He stepped closer, his cologne wrapping around me and bringing me in fast. His eyes were mahogany, edged beautifully with ebony lashes. But it was the beard that had the strangest effect on me, and deep down I wondered if it would feel scratchy or soft against my delicate skin.
Whoa, wait a minute. I wasn’t supposed to be charmed by this guy. He’d cost me too much. Remembering that whole situation – his angry tone, the callous laughter, and his clipped words telling me to get lost, suddenly kiboshed the sex appeal. As the Northern Pikes would say, ‘She ain’t pretty, she just looked that way.’
Squaring my shoulders, I shook my head and tapped my pencil against the notepad. “If you’d like to go ahead, I can draw up the ideas and get you an estimate on the cost. There’s a cost for that design process, and it will be copyrighted.”
“Why’s that?” There was a slight tip of his head.
“So you don’t take my idea to someone else to create.” I put on what Libby called my professional, yet sassy-type smile. Not that I had ever run into someone stealing my ideas before, I wasn’t about to start, but he was a shrewd enough businessman to find someone else and undercut me.
He chuckled though, and the right side of his cheek pushed up with a grin. “That’s fair.”
“If you choose to go ahead with the design, I’ll deduct the cost of the estimate off the total. There is a 50% deposit required to get started, with the remainder due at the time of delivery. Should you choose to cancel, you’ll get back half of the deposit, minus any incurred material expenses.”
“You’re pretty thorough, Miss?” He trailed off.
I realized I hadn’t ever given him my full name. How foolish of me. “Normandy. But you can call me Erin.”
“Normandy?” He rocked back on his feet, putting a little distance between us.
Did he remember my name from the food poisoning? I didn’t recall ever having given it to him back then.
“As in Adam’s little sister, the guy who runs the bookstore?”
