Am I being that big of a crybaby?Quinn dragged in a harsh, grating breath. “I’m okay. So you don’t think it’s going to need to be torn down?”
Jake nodded, raising his voice again. “The home inspector cleared it, and just from what I’ve seen, there’s some parts that are going to take some real work, but nothing that pings off the old radar dish.” He rapped a couple times on the top of his head.
Quinn blew out a long breath. “Good. I was worried.”
Mason leaned a little bit forward, one hand on a sheet of paper, the other in the middle of the table. “So, correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you want to move in there. That’s what we’ve been running with, but if you’re leaning more toward rental or sale—”
“I still want to move in.” Quinn hadn’t gone back there since they carried his grandpa out, but more painful than stepping back in there would be losing it forever.Not that I can say all that. “I’d be a fool to turn down a house that’s just handed to me.” He made himself smile, like it was a nice, charming joke.
It got some polite laughter, too, and Mason shifted his papers around, then glanced to Eliza. “Are we good to move on to the fun stuff?”
She nodded. “You’re running the show. I mean, I am technically, but I cede it to you. However you would normally do things, then if we need to make changes, we’ll confer. Not like it’s your first time doing this sort of thing.”
Quinn knew from the application and his further communications that this crew had a home renovation channel on VideoHead, but they hadn’t posted anything in a while. He’d scrubbed through a couple of their videos when he got the offer to actually be on the show, just to get a vibe check, and they seemed good enough.But if Homescapes is this willing to throw all the control at him, maybe I should watch back through. Might be good entertainment, at least.
Mason sighed. “All right, so let’s talk big picture: dream house, what does it have for you?”
Quinn swallowed hard and blinked. “That’s a pretty big question.”
Mason nodded. “It is. But it’s the process we’ve always worked with. Go crazy, then we bring it back to reality a little more. But this should befun.As much levity as we can bring into a rough sort of situation.”
Quinn nodded, then glanced over to Jake. He was tilting back in his chair again, but locked eyes on Quinn and shrugged.
Then tipped and toppled, smacking his head on the floor and sending the chair skidding across the floor.
That laugh and smile wasn’t Quinn putting on a show, even as he got up to check on him. “You good?”
“I’ve had worse falls.” He took Quinn’s outstretched hand. When Jake pulled himself up, his weight almost dragged Quinn into a pile with him on the floor. But not quite. He nodded and brushed his butt off. “Thanks.”
“Maybe keep all four feet on the floor?” Aras shook his head. “Can we get back to the meeting?”
“Sorry.” Jake flashed another grin to Quinn, then gathered up his chair and sat back down. “I know it’s kind of a weird exercise, but when you get into it, talking dream house stuff is a lot of fun. And you might be surprised what we can actually pull together.”
Quinn caught himself smiling, then turned back to Mason. It was a big question, so he had to take a little time and effort to find the right angle from which to approach it. His words started out slow, figuring things as he went. “I work from home, so I’d want space from that. I don’t do a lot of entertaining, so I’m not convinced that I need a dining room or anything like that.”
Mason started scratching notes out on his paper and a few others were taking notes on phones or tablets or laptops. But they let Mason take the lead. “What do you do for work? So we can make sure you have the right kind of space.”
“I work for an economic consultation firm in Chicago. I don’t go in very often, but if they call for all hands, I have to head that way. Otherwise, it’s all me and my place.”
Jake whistled low. “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like a lot of math.”
Again, Quinn couldn’t help smiling. Before he could reply, Ozzy sighed. “It’s in the title. He consults with business about economic data. Making sure numbers line up before court cases, auditing, that kind of thing.”
Quinn clenched his fist down below the table. “That’s the long and short of it. But I mostly work litigation. I make sure that, when there’s an economic crime or a personal injury lawsuit or whatever, my clients get the right numbers to do their jobs.”
Jake nodded, apparently unfazed by Ozzy’s sniping. “Sweet.”
Mason tapped his pen pointedly on the table, drawing the attention back his way. “It’s a three bedroom, so we could totally do an office. Do you want to have a guest room ready?”
Quinn shook his head. “I don’t get guests who need a separate room very often.” He glanced over to Jake and couldn’t miss the broad smile on his face, or the raise of his eyebrows at the implication. Quinn pushed through it quickly, mostly so his mind didn’t think too much about Jake in a bedroom with him. “I could use a better space for gaming, though.”
Mason nodded. “We’ll hook you up with Jake for that one.” He smiled at him, then at Jake. “You good with that?”
“Hell yeah. There’s not a ton of important, structural stuff for me to work on, outside of the deck. We can get you a good setup. Console or PC?”
“Both.”
“Nice. Can’t miss those exclusives, right?” Jake held his hand out, and Quinn tentatively returned the offered fist bump.
