Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
That was low, and her smile just took her from annoyingly bougee to villainous, and it occurs to me that despite her claim that she wants her grandkids to visit, given that she really doesn’t seem like the grandmotherly type, it’s more likely that her entire reasoning for getting a pool is to fuck with Dani, like some long-term petty revenge situation.
I have to say that it’s a unique situation for me. I’ve been used as a ‘make my boyfriend jealous’ type of guy before, but being used like this is different on so many levels. On one hand, I want to tell Kathy to go fuck herself, have my guys walk off the site, and if she wants the hole filled, she can do it her damn self with her gardening shovel.
On the other hand, a job is a job and she’s a client. The fact is, I put in pools that cost a lot of money. Regular, blue-collar, working-class type people whom I tend to like can’t afford the pools I put in. Which means I’ve dealt with Kathy’s type plenty of times. And in my business, walking off a job is a major blow to my reputation. I hurt my rep, I hurt my guys.
So instead of going with my gut reaction, I swallow down my revulsion at being used this way and decide to use charm to defuse the situation. For my benefit, and Dani’s. Not Kathy’s, though I won’t let her know that. “I can understand your point of view, and you’re right. We also want to cause as little disruption as possible while we’re completing your project. At the end of the day, you’ll have your pool paradise to enjoy with the grandkids, but we don’t want to cause any long-term issues.” I leave off the ‘for you’ because I don’t really care about causing Kathy problems.
But Dani? For some reason I can’t explain, I do give a shit. She seems like ‘good people’, and I’d like to put myself in the class too, so I don’t appreciate being Kathy’s weapon of choice.
“It will be paradise as soon as she stops her nastiness,” Kathy snaps, and I grit my teeth, saying nothing. Even that leaves a sour taste in my mouth because I don’t want to fuck up Dani’s business as much as Kathy seems to want that.
Ignoring her words, I stick to the issue at hand. “Well, it’s currently a risk for my guys, my equipment, and my trucks, so we’re gonna have to figure something out,” I reply matter-of-factly. Ticking off on my fingers, I add, “For safety reasons, to maintain traffic flow for your street, and most importantly, to cause as little disruption to your day as possible.” I pause, reminding her that she claims that’s what she wants. “We need to do something about the parking system. I suggest keeping the heavy machinery in the back yard, and we can pull the trailer to the back of the driveway. That’d save you a lot of headaches.”
She glances out the window, and I can virtually see her forming arguments against my plan. “I don’t want to destroy the side yard.”
I shake my head. “It’s going to be damaged by the equipment, as we knew, and replacement of the sod is already included in the quote.”
“I need to be able to get out of my garage and driveway too,” she continues, gesturing to the driveway. Honestly, it’s a valid excuse, even if it is annoying.
“Okay. But we’re going to have days where that area is blocked off, and you’ll have to move your car early in the morning if you want an opportunity to get out,” I tell her evenly.
She grins, looking self-satisfied at having gotten her way, which is to make my life hell and Dani’s life even worse. “Be sure to let me know ahead of time when those days are coming, and it’ll be fine. Until then, I’m sure you’ll do your best parking somewhere out there.” She waves a hand, not toward the street out front but specifically toward Dani’s curb space.
Somewhere out there? She absolutely means wherever it inconveniences Dani and her customers the most.
I at least handled the dirt situation and keeping Kathy off the jobsite, which are significant wins in my book and for my crew. The parking issue isn’t going to get better.
Hell, I’m surprised at this point that Kathy hasn’t parked her own car in front of her house, forcing us to park Wayne’s truck, the trailer, and my truck elsewhere along the street. She probably didn’t think of that, but now that I have, if we have to move the trailer, I’ll be sure to leave one of our trucks there so Kathy can’t belatedly make things even worse for us.
“We’ll get back to it, then,” I say by way of goodbye. Kathy doesn’t answer, just sips her coffee. Yeah, as I figured, she never offered me one.