We sat in awkward silence for a beat before I asked, “How about we have a glass of wine while we talk about my proposal for your cabinets?”
“Oh,” she replied breathlessly. “Okay.”
I noticed her nipples went stiff again under her pajama top and wondered what was up with that.
It wasn’t like I was mad about it. Just the opposite, as I subtly adjusted my semi in my pants when I stood to follow her to the kitchen.
She pulled out the open bottle of Riesling I’d noticed in her refrigerator earlier, and I grabbed two wine glasses from her cupboard and set them on the counter.
There seemed to be a slight quiver in her hand as she poured the wine and handed me a glass.
“So, what did you have in mind?”
I swirled the contents of the glass as I spoke.
“I think I found a way we can help each other out.”
She drew a quick breath before saying, “Oh?”
“I can install your cabinets myself after work and on the weekends in exchange for…” I took a swallow of the Riesling and noticed her pupils dilate. “You tutoring Brayden.”
She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head like she was confused, and her tone was clipped when she repeated back, “You want me to tutor your son in exchange for installing my cabinets?That’syour proposition?”
“Yeah, Brayden’s grades have started to slip, so he’s in jeopardy of becoming ineligible to play. I thought we could barter your specialty for my specialty.”
She reiterated. “That’swhat you wanted to talk to me about?Tutoring?”
“Is that bad?”
“No, I, um, I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I-I—” she stammered. “I don’t know. Not that.”
Gretchen didn’t jump at the idea, which surprised me, so I tried to spell out what that would mean for her.
“It’d save you about ten thousand dollars.”
She chewed on her bottom lip as she stared at the countertop, like she was lost in thought before murmuring, “That would help my bottom line after it closes.”
“What do you mean? You wouldn’t have to put a contractor’s lien on your house.”
Her eyes finally met mine.
“While I really appreciate you making an exception for me and letting me make payments, I still can’t afford the monthly amount Shelly sent. And that didn’t even include installation. It’s almost a whole week of wages for me. No matter how much I cut from my budget, I can’t allocate twenty-five percent of my income for the next three years on cabinets.”
I felt like an ass. I hadn’t thought the terms through when I’d rattled them off to Shelly. Of course, Gretchen couldn’t make that kind of payment.
“How much can you afford?”
She hemmed and hawed before finally saying, “I think the most I could swing would be three hundred, so, obviously it’s not going to work.”
“We’ll change the contract to three hundred a month.”
Gretchen put her hand on her hip, like she didn’t trust me.
“Just like that?”
