A House Is Not A Home

Chapter 2

Emeric's POV

   "Thank you-" raised voices made me frown towards the door. What had Lita f****d up now? "Ms. Johnson. We will get back to you-" I was cut off as I heard shouting. I had already started to stand to take the applicants hand but I darted to the door. 

    "I think it's quite obvious at this point why your Mr. Rose is holding interviews at all! You've got less brain cells than a damn-"

    "Ladies?" I interrupted, as much as I knew whatever the stranger was going to say to be true, I knew it best not to be said. Else I'd have to fire Lita on the spot and I still needed her for a few more days. 

    "Good day, Mr. Rose." Ms. Johnson said quickly as she slipped away. I gave her a quick nod as Lita turned to me fuming. 

    "Mr. Rose! This woman-"

    "This woman has driven over twelve hours because of your incompetence!" She thundered, effectively cowing Lita. Even I hadn't managed that. Although I hadn't tried all too hard to terrify her either. But if this woman had really driven twelve hours to speak to me about business only to be told we had f****d up, it was understandable she'd be furious. 

    I stepped forward, putting myself between Lita and the woman, "Ms-?"

    She took a step away from me and held out her hand, "Guthrie, April." Her grip was firm but not over bearing, I didn't expect it to be, at least she didn't drop a limp fish in my hand like most of the other ladies I'd dealt with today had.

    "Ah, yes. Justin's friend." Her gaunt cheeks colored. She didn't like to be talked about, interesting. "It was impossible to get him to shut up about you when he came back from his trip to Idaho." Her blush deepened.

    "He likes to ramble."

    "This is true. I do apologize for any inconveniences. It's a long drive. Why don't we sit down for a few minutes. Have a conversation about you and what you do and what it is you need from me. Then since this whole mess is ill timed, I'll take you out to dinner and we can hash out the details." I held a hand out guiding her to my office. She nodded once and made her way into my office. I unbuttoned my jacket as I sent a glare to Lita behind me. Fighting with a guest and a potential working partner. Her shoulders sunk and she turned to her computer. Apparently our earlier conversation took no hold in that dim brain of hers. 

    I followed Ms. Guthrie into my office and found her enjoying my view. I took the opportunity to really appraise her. She wore good sturdy clothing. Nothing designer of course. Designer work clothes maybe. They were nice, but they were too big for. They hung off her thin frame, slightly bagging. If she filled them out, she would have looked more neat. Her hair was up in a messy bun.

    I walked up beside her, "Justin tells me you grew up here?"

    She looked up at me, she had lovely grey eyes. Or maybe they were blue? The dark circles under her eyes muted the color of her iris'. Something about her seemed incredibly exhausted, "I did, Ballard. More specifically."

    "What made you move to Idaho?"

    "College. ISU. Didn't last very long. I met my husband  at the end of second semester and haven't gone back. That was six years ago."

    "The way Justin speaks about you, I didn't think you were married."

    "Widowed. I don't actually know that he knows that. What does he say about me?" She looked at me from window and her face colored, "Sorry to just throw that information out. I don't usually mention anything about it, too many questions I generally don't feel like answering." 

    I huffed, "It makes sense. And you started this business after he passed?"

    "No. The business was his. He wanted to get out of working for someone else, and me to not have to work at all. We had hoped to maybe have two and a half kids but, he died." She ended flatly. 

    "If you don't mind me asking, how did he pass?"

    "He was killed in a work accident. He installed satellite TV, and he was out of state picking up hours in another office. Well he was driving down the interstate going eighty and a tire blew out and his truck flipped a bunch. He didn't survive."

    I let out a heavy breath, "Damn. I can understand why you keep that to yourself."

    "Everyone knows me as 'Josh's wife' or 'the widow'. I got tired of explaining and the pitying looks so I just stopped mentioning anything about my marital status at all. It's easier."

    "And here you are making twelve hour trips to find an investor, even though he didn't want you to work?"

    She raised a manicured brow at me. She had pretty features. Her nose was straight, chin pointed and she had sharp cheek bones. Her face was round and I think she used to have more weight in her face. I think she used to have a lot more weight in general. "I was working before. Not as laborious as working construction on houses, minding the numbers is the most tedious, anxiety inducing part out of all of it. But I feel like I've done a decent jobs far. Haven't lost any money yet. Although, I'm told I am very conservative with my numbers when estimating. Which, better safe than sorry." She made a face and took a step away from me. That was the second time she had done that. "I apologize, I didn't mean to share so much. Not sure why I did that."

    I was usually really good at getting people talking. That's why I made so much money. I was a people person. But most people didn't realize like she did that they over shared. I didn't like that she noticed, but it did make for a challenge and that was always fun. I motioned to a chair, "Would you like a seat?" I didn't wait for her as I went to my own beside the couch instead of to my desk. She followed and sat adjacent to me on the couch.

    "You are here because you want money." She looked about as I spoke. I wasn't really particularly interested in real estate, and she definitely wasn't comfortable to be here. But she did keep her body facing me, "Do you have a portfolio of what you have done so far?"

    With this she finally looked at me and flipped open her tablet. She passed it to me and I was impressed immediately. She had before pictures with purchase price, and after with ARV, cost, time taken, and profit. She made excellent profit on her houses. Most houses I couldn't believe were the same. "You do all this work yourself?" I was astounded, she was talented.

    "No. God no. I have a team I work with. My foreman is a certified electrician, so that helps me a lot in planning and timing. But I do come up with the ideas and what I want. Color, textures, layout. He tells me how we do it and we go forth from there. The only time we have delays is when we have to wait for a plumber, that isn't common though. I am trying to find one to work as a general contractor but it isn't a huge deal. Plumbers aren't all that expensive either. Not like an electrician."

    "But you don't have any experience or schooling in any of this?" I asked. Her numbers were excellent. Her ideas were incredibly tasteful. These houses were definitely worth all the money she had gotten out of them, "You have done eight yourself?"

    Her face turned red and right then Justin sauntered into my office, "April!" She jumped a foot out of her seat and I suppressed a chuckle. Justin of course didn't. "What are you wearing woman!?"

    Her scowl could have curdled glass, "My work clothes." Her voice was low and dangerous, "Thanks for the dress code."

    He laughed, "Oh yea, sorry. I work for Compass Corp, dress nice." He plopped down on the couch beside her leaning back crossing an ankle over his knee, making himself comfortable. He brushed his light hair out of his face and draped an arm over her shoulders. I noticed her tense at the action and sit forward not trying to be obvious in her discomfort in pulling away completely. She looked back at him and he yanked his arm away with a sheepish grin. She didn't like getting close to people. She had been married. She couldn't have hated being touched too much. Maybe Justin liked her a great deal more than she liked him. It was understandable that she wouldn't be interested in anyone having lost her partner tragically. A sick part of me purred at the knowledge of knowing something so intimate about her that Justin didn't. He spoke a lot about her when he had come back. How she was funny, smart, an excellent cook... He obviously didn't know as much as he thought he did. I couldn't quite pin her personality type though. Many parts of her screamed submissive. The incident with the receptionist though was quite a dominating thing to do.

    "Her attire is just fine. Especially given what she does for work." 

    "What does that mean?" She snapped. I reeled, not used to people talking back to me. I realized that could have sounded rather derogatory. A sub wouldn't talk back like that to me. I was being accommodating, but I knew how I came off as. A real submissive person wouldn't have said that the way she did. But the more she spoke, the more I liked her. She was different.

    "You work as a contractor, and you dress like one. It had absolutely nothing to do with money or status or anything of the like. I apologize for having my comment being misconstrued. Did you need something Justin?" Justin hadn't been kidding about this woman. She was keeping me guessing and on my toes. Who was supposed to be working for who now?

    "No. I just wanted to see my buddy. Check on her and see how you two were getting on." He put a hand on her thigh and her face tightened but she didn't move. 

    "Getting on wonderfully, I was just about to tell her that I certainly am interested in doing business and furthering this conversation. But it will have to wait for tonight."

    "What are we doing tonight?" Justin asked excitedly, popping up to his feet. He held his hand out for her and she took it to stand.

    "My receptionist assumed Ms. Guthrie wanted an interview, instead of a meeting. Dinner is my way of apologizing and giving her the time she deserves." I nodded at April as I said this and her cheeks colored. I handed her tablet back and she murmured her thanks. "Six sound okay?"

    "Six is fine."

    "Dude, no way. Finish your interviews in a group and come out and have a late lunch with us. She's been up since midnight this morning if she made the trip out in one go. That'd make it a really long day for her." I hadn't even thought about that and I wanted to kick myself for not having done the math when she had shouted at Lita. No wonder she looked exhausted.

    "I don't wish to tax your guest with an overly long day. Ms. Guthrie, here's my card. That's my personal number. You won't have to deal with any receptionists." 

    She took the card gingerly and looked it over before tucking it into her breast pocket.

    "At least none that are working anyways." Justin added with a grin.

    "Don't be inappropriate." I snapped. Why was he trying to make me look bad? I went to apologize again but I saw a flicker of a smile on her face. "Please, I beg for the sake of my reputation, ignore him."

    A brief smile graced her face, "Don't worry, Mr. Rose, I usually do."

    "Hey now." He pouted. She smiled for real and a quiet laugh escaped her. "See if I take you to the aquarium now!"

    "Take me? I'll take myself."

    He sent a pouty look my way as she stepped around me, his threat didn't work as well as he had wanted, "Contrary as a cat." He growled under his breath. 

    I walked to the door, reaching around April to open the door for her. She shuffled away from me as I got too close and thanked me. I gave her a small smile as she stepped through. "I do quite enjoy the aquarium myself. I'll see about getting done quick as I can."

    She turned to me with a small smile, "Thank you, Mr. Rose. I do appreciate the time you're giving me."

    "Please, you're a friend of Justin's, you're a friend of mine. It's Emeric. And it's my pleasure." Instead of shaking the hand she offered I kissed it. Her face glowed from embarrassment. She jerked her hand back and I smirked. "The next five applicants, please, Lita."