This Is How It Started by Stacy Finz

Author:Stacy Finz [Finz, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2022-10-12T11:57:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Legally Blonde

It’s been six days since any work has been done on the pool house. No one, not even the guy who eventually came to tarp the roof (a little late, fellow), has been back. Kyle has stopped answering my calls. And I’m almost certain he’s blocked my texts. I’ve left repeated messages at Bleu Construction, including a threat of legal action, all of which have gone ignored.

Apparently this is not uncommon in the construction world. My mother, who appears to be over her snit about me living with Brooke, swears all contractors have attention deficit disorder.

“What do we do now?” I ask Brooke, who’s painting her toenails while watching television in the den.

“Find someone else, I guess. What we’re not doing is paying Bleu. Fuck them.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard Brooke use the F-word, and I kind of like it.

“Okay, do you have anyone from your original list I can contact?” Considering the shortage of contractors, it won’t be easy finding someone to take over the job in the eleventh hour.

“Bleu was it. You’ve got to have some good contacts.”

Wrong. The people Josh dealt with specialized in commercial buildouts. Restaurants, retail stores, tech companies. None of them would stoop so low as to take on our five-hundred-square-foot pool house redux. Chip might know of someone, but the likelihood of anyone being available at this very moment is about as good as me getting a reservation at the French Laundry before summer.

“I’ll see what I can do, Brooke. But I’m not optimistic.”

She looks up from her feet. “I’ve got it rented out for most of April. So if we have to do it ourselves...” She flashes me a tight smile that in the immortal words of Tim Gunn says, “Make it work.”

Jeez, the woman is relentless. But she hasn’t once so much as hinted that I’m reaching my expiration date here at Chateau Sharing Economy, even though she could probably sublet my bedroom.

“I’ll soldier on,” I tell her. “I have to say, you’re really taking preserving Dad’s legacy to the next level.” I’m still befuddled about why.

We’ve been nothing but dismissive of her. Not overtly, mind you. But we made it clear that she wasn’t accepted. That came in various forms but most notably that we rejected any and all invitations from my father that included Brooke. That meant that all holidays were spent with Mom and that my dad had to leave Brooke out if he wanted us to go on any family vacations with him. For a while after the breakup, in solidarity with Mom, he was dead to us. But at the end of the day, he was still our father, the man who brought us onto this earth, kissed our booboos, and was there for every one of our milestones. In other words, we took him back. And there’s not a day that goes by since he died that I don’t wish we hadn’t wasted time disowning him, even if it was only for a short time.

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