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Dylan blinks at me. “How do you steal a whole porch?”
Maren shrugs. “It was made of wood. They probably took it apart.” Sure, because that’s perfectly normal.
Maren and Dylan briefly met the day I showed up, but some clarification is in order. “Dylan is going to be the maintenance man for the foreseeable future. You can keep him updated on repair requests as well. His number is already in the office phone.”
“Nice to meet you,” Maren says. And look at that, she is capable of a genuine smile and amicable tone.
“Maren’s going to be running the office and the administrative side of things,” I add.
“Good to meet you. Do you have any tips on how not to get shot while knocking on doors today?”
Maren chuckles, and the printer begins to spit out a page. “They won’t shoot you, but you can text me to meet you if you have issues getting tenants to cooperate. I’m happy to help.”
Happy to help? Is this the same woman who told me I could fuck off like ten minutes ago?
“I appreciate it.” Dylan turns to me. “The woman in lot nine runs a daycare and asked if I could do her floors over a weekend so she doesn’t have to inconvenience parents. I can start on it Saturday morning. And I have an idea for the laundry room to show you.”
“Okay, just a second, and I’ll go with you.” I grab the mop from the corner where it sits in a bucket. “I spilled some coffee.”
Maren narrows her eyes at my grin but continues typing and ignores me. It’s going to be hard not to tease her when she’s so easy to annoy.
“I have my phone on me if you need me,” I remark as we leave.
Her words follow me out the door. “I won’t.”
Dylan looks over at me while we walk to the laundry room. “Of all the people you could hire, you choose a woman who despised you on sight.”
“She’s also the one who hired the lawyer to sue my father.”
He adjusts the baseball cap on his head. “I’m not sure if you’re insane or a masochist.”
“The tenants trust her. As long as she’s helpful, I can deal with the attitude.”
“Deal with,” he scoffs. “You love mean women. You’re eating it up.”
“You’re just afraid of fierce, assertive women.” My mind jumps to the look on her face when she saw me naked. She didn’t hate what she saw. The part of her lips, the lust in her eyes as they raked over me. Then that defiant glare afterward. Sexy as hell.
“Assertive I can handle. She looked like she may murder you in your sleep.” We walk past the mailboxes where the man who swore we were after his guns sneers at my wave. “So do some of the others,” he adds.
“We have to keep in mind that this isn’t personal. These people have every reason to be angry. What should be thrown at my father is going to be thrown at us. We need to get the job done anyway. I learned a long time ago that it does no good to tell people who you are. You have to show them.”
Dylan leads the way into the laundry room and explains what he’d like to do to improve it. “This wall isn’t load bearing. There’s no reason we can’t knock it down and double the size of the room. You’d easily be able to fit six washers and dryers.” He gestures to the opposite wall. “A long folding table could stretch along here, and we could put a sink in the corner.”
We spend a few minutes discussing it and I give him the go ahead to add it to our list of plans. Once we have everything figured out, we’ll be bringing in some other contracting help from the area. Dylan is good, but he’s one guy. He’s also the guy I trust most to oversee the others and make sure things are being done the right way with the right materials.
My phone beeps with a text from Maren.
Maren:
Plumber is here to scope the drains. Wants you to meet him by the main entrance.
Me:
On my way.
The rest of the morning passes quickly while I hop between assisting the plumber who is inspecting our drainage pipes, talking with the electrician who also has his work cut out for him, and helping Dylan get started on some basic repairs. When I realize it’s after noon, I send a text to Maren.
Me:
