AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, yeah,” he replied. “Do you do the refurbishment on these pieces?”
Her chin ticked to the side and her brows drew down.
At her reaction, he thought maybe she belatedly recognized him, but she said, “Thanks for asking it like that.”
“Sorry?”
“Usually, people ask who does the refurbishment, not if I do it. No shade on the patriarchy,” she lied on that last. “But a woman can reupholster a sofa. And I do. I own this place with my man and his brother, but only me and my man do the work.”
“This piece is great,” he told her.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“But do you have something that’s as cool as this but more comfortable?”
“Fuck furniture?” she asked with a quirk to her lips.
Hale stood silent.
Elsa laughed softly.
“I heard you earlier,” the associate shared.
“Right,” he muttered, a sensation of alarm unfurling across the back of his neck. “Sorry.”
She smiled. “Baby, if you think it’s not a compliment that my furniture gives a good-lookin’ man ideas, you’re very wrong. So how about you follow me.”
She didn’t take them to another part of the store. She took them out the back to the alley, along it and to the back door to the next property, where they went in.
Through this, his bodyguard trailed them.
Elsa noted him and gave him a contented smile, not hiding she was relieved he was there. The associate noted him too and didn’t say a word.
“This is our workspace,” she unnecessarily explained about the big space filled with items in progress, tools and a lot of sawdust.
They snaked through it and stopped at another midcentury piece. This one was boxy, with padded arms and thick, comfortable-looking cushions covered in velvet the color of a dandelion.
It wasn’t long enough for him, but he could get creative with a couch like this.
“Now this is fuck furniture,” the woman said.
“I love it,” Elsa told her. “But it’s not finished.”
And it wasn’t. One of the cushions didn’t have a cover and the piece didn’t have any legs.
“Close, though, I can put some temporary legs on so you can give it a go.”
“How long will it take to get done?” Elsa asked.
“Couple of days.”
That alarm Hale was feeling spread as Elsa shared openly, “Well, you see, my current couch was given to me by my Uncle Adam, who I just found out has been having an affair with my mother for twenty years. So it’s kinda important it goes.”
The woman’s eyes got big. “Whoa, sis. I hear you. But if you can hang tight, I’ll get on this and I can take that one off your hands, do a refurb if it needs it, or just sell it. Depending on what shape it’s in, in trade, I can either deliver this for free, or take a couple hundred dollars off it. We charge a hundred bucks for delivery. Promise I’ll do my usual fabulous job, but I’ll fast track it. Got a picture of your couch?”
Elsa dug out her phone.
While she was doing that, the woman turned to him.
