Aras and Bunny followed. Eliza, the show’s producer, was already there. She was razor thin with her black hair tied back in a tight ponytail, and wide brown eyes. She nodded to them as they came in and took their seats around the table, then peered toward the doorway. “Ev and Ozzy?”
Bunny shook her head, shrugging. “They’re off doing…whatever it is they’re doing. I’m sure they’ll be here.”
Eliza sighed, then nodded. “Well, client is inbound. Anything you want to go over before this gets started?”
Everyone pulled out their phones. Except for Mason, who already had his in his hand, and Aras, who’d gone over the project details they had several times already. Why, he couldn’t say. It didn’t give him any actual info, and anythinganyof them tried to glean would probably get turned on its head as soon as they talked to this Caroline Dalton. All he really had to keep in mind was that she had a bad marriage and a contentious divorce she’d finally gotten through, and now she was moving into a new house in a new town in a new state. It was at least a noble cause they could devote themselves to. Helping her get back on her feet and live a better life than she had in her marriage.
Ozzy and Evander marched in, holding hands, and took two of the remaining empty seats. Evander was all smiles, teeth bright white and eyes sparkling. He was in a floral jumpsuit with the chest halfway open. They hadn’t exactly been traveling around the tropics, but apparently they were getting more sun on the road than back home in the mountains of Washington. His brown skin had darkened to a much deeper copper color since they started filming. Either that or he was using a metric butt-ton of bronzer.
Ozzy sighed. “We all sitting with our thumbs up our asses or did we actually miss something important?”
“Only one of us had something up our ass.” Aras kept his voice lower than usual, but loud enough he was sure everyone heard it. Why Ozzy had to always needle and pick, he’d never figured out. Probably something to do with his upper crust upbringing. Backbiting like that would be the norm for the wealthy.
“Are you calling me a bottom?” Ozzy pressed his hand to his chest, mouth dropping open in mock horror. “Pretty sure you’d know better.”
“I’ve seen enough to know what I’m talking about. You never learned how to lock a damn door.”
Ozzy didn’t get a chance to respond—although his expression had collapsed just enough that Aras knew he’d struck home somewhat—because a soft knocking came from the door. Aras turned along with everyone else to see a tall, heavyset woman standing in the doorway. She wore a bright pink windbreaker and black jeans. She had dishwater blonde hair, cut into a simple A-line, and wore sparkly earrings like miniature chandeliers. “Am I too early?”
Mason shook his head as he stood. “Not at all. They’ll want to get you set up with a mic, and then we’re good to go.” He beckoned her inside as a couple members of the production crew came forward to hook her up.
Aras sat up straighter and rolled his shoulders. It was time toactuallyget to work, so he grabbed one of the hotel-branded notepads in the center of the table and dug a pen out of his pocket.
Chapter three
Dane
Danehadn’tbeeninon the meeting for the first few episodes, but as they fell into a rhythm over the course of several jobs, it became obvious that the more experienced grips belonged in the actual house while they were split. And Dane was not one of the more experienced anything. Maybe if they needed someone to tell them how to build little models of fighting anime robots. Then, he was probably the expert. Not too applicable to the job at hand, though, so he’d gotten to see the last three initial meetings with the clients. This seemed to be about the same as the others. Mason and Eliza covered introductions, then they made sure Caroline had some tea before they got into the meat of things.
Mason leaned back so he could look her in the eye. The cameras adjusted slightly to keep the framing right. “So, we have the basic story. But you’re looking at a fresh start. Big chance to set yourself up however you want.” He nodded. “How do you want to start it?”
Caroline blew out a long, slow breath, her cheeks flushing slightly. “Well, I can’t lie and say that I haven’t thought about it. It’s all I’ve thought about since I got my new job here.” She laughed nervously. “I think I just want something that feels likeme. That old house was Robbie’s and he never wanted to change anything. I had to hide everything away. Had to pay for a storage unit because he didn’t want anything of mine clogging up his space.” She rolled her eyes. “So I want everything on display. My makeup, my personality, all my carnival glass.”
Dane’s eyes flickered over to Aras before he even consciously recognized it. He was always so fixated on Aras that, apparently, he’d instinctively caught the slight shift in Aras’s posture. He’d leaned toward Caroline and tapped his pen against his notepad. His legs uncrossed and his eyes sharpened. “Carnival glass?”
Caroline nodded. “Yeah. It’s that rainbow colored glass—”
“I know.” Aras actuallysmiled,which in Dane’s experience was pretty rare. “I have probably a hundred pieces back home. Mostly contemporary, but I’m always trying to get more of the vintage stuff.”
Caroline’s eyebrows raised. “I wasn’t expecting that. I have…a few more than a hundred.” She shrugged. “I got a lot growing up because I liked it. Contemporary, like yours. Then when my grandparents died, I inherited all of theirs. Which was mostly from the twenties and thirties. Then during my marriage, I would buy it in auctions when I felt bad.”
Aras nodded. “Which I take it was a lot?”
Her cheeks reddened a touch, but she nodded. “I have no idea how to even fit it all in my space. I probably have to sell some of it. Duplicates maybe. I’m sure I have some.”
Aras scribbled something down on his notepad. “We can make it work. First time I’ve run into anyone in the wild who actually cares about carnival glass.” He glanced up and there was alightto his eyes that caught Dane’s breath. Something passionate. Somethingreal. Dane ran his fingers back through his hair just to give himself something to do. He needed to reshave around his mohawk, since he could feel stubble coming back in.
He was so caught up, his brain took a moment to focus back on the conversation. He only got Caroline’s response. “I think that would be good. I’d never have been able to put it on display before. Make it a real focal point.” She smiled at Aras. “Yeah. Let’s make it a focus.”
“Noted.” Aras tapped his pen against the paper. “Literally. I’ll get into it with you more once I’ve seen the place. But I’m already thinking built-in lighting to make the iridescence really pop off.” He scribbled on the notepad, and his tone returned to the normal…well, if scowling made a noise, that would be Aras’s normal tone of voice. “You all can stare at me if you want, I’m not doing a backflip. Focus on the client, yeah?”
“Forgive him,” said Evander. “His charm knows many bounds.” He gestured at Caroline with his phone. “So is there anything you know about the house that we should be aware of before going in? Issues, pain points, anything like that?”
She shook her head. “Not off the top of my head, but I’m also still in the last month of my lease on my apartment. Haven’t moved in yet. It’s new construction.”
Evander clapped a few times, his grin wide. “A blank slate. Bless you for this gift.”
“How much land are we talking about?” Ozzy was looking between her and his phone. “It seems like it’s more of a postage stamp yard.”
