The Parent Trap by Jasinda Wilder

Author:Jasinda Wilder [Wilder, Jasinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948445641
Publisher: Jasinda Wilder
Published: 2021-08-09T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Delia

The meeting goes better than I could have anticipated. As much as I hate to admit it, Thai and I play off each other perfectly. Where I’m staid and conservative and laser-focused on the numbers and timelines and overhead and profit margins, Thai is easygoing, naturally gregarious and friendly, able to create immediate connections with everyone he talks to. He gets the lead developer, Jacob Haimovitz, to talk about baseball and they share funny stories and Jacob is put at ease and in a good mood. Then, without any kind of obvious signal, Thai turns it over to me and the conversation transitions smoothly and easily to business. With nerves smoothed and moods lifted, we’re able to come to an agreement that’s beneficial for everyone. Jacob finds our idea of experimenting with Tree-Free’s line of products exciting and fascinating and promises to come see when we start breaking ground in a few months.

I contain my excitement until we’re in Thai’s truck, and then I let myself have a rare moment of girly excitement, where I screech and flap my hands. I almost never behave that way, but this deal is too big to not be excited about.

Thai just watches with amusement. “Didn’t take you for the squeal and flap your hands type, to be honest.”

I glare at him, but there’s no real heat in it. “Hey, it’s my first major deal since taking over, and it also happens to be the biggest deal McKenna has ever landed.”

“The current sub development isn’t bigger than this?” he asks.

I bob my head side to side. “Not really. The houses are smaller and cheaper. So even though there are more total units being built, we’re actually netting less overall. Also, we developed the sub in stages. It started as twenty acres and fifteen units, and as those sold, the developer added new phases. This deal we just inked today, it’s huge. We nail this development, it’ll take McKenna to the next level.”

“Well, you killed it,” he says.

I eye him. “Hey, you killed it too.”

He shakes his head, rolls his eyes. “Nah. I just played the funny man to your straight man.”

I frown. “Straight man?”

“Comedy duos? Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Martin and Lewis? It’s the classic pair. One is the straight guy, not funny, not silly. Just serious, all business. That’d be Dean Martin. The other is the funny man. Goofy, wacky—that’s Jerry Lewis. It only works if you have both, though.”

“Jerry Lewis was funny by himself.”

“Sure, and so was Costello. But when you’ve got the straight man to play against, it gets funnier.”

“So I lack a sense of humor, is what you’re saying?”

He snorts, rolls his eyes again. “Yes, Delia, that’s what I’m saying. Obvious conclusion.”

I hold my straight face a moment longer, and then burst into laughter. “See? Humor.” I push the on button for his stereo and scroll through XM stations until I find something fun and poppy. “My point is, you loosened them up, made it feel personal and friendly.

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