“What house? You’ve never been to myhouse.”
“Your Hogwarts house.” I busied myself making both of us a cup ofcoffee.
“I don’t haveone.”
“Everyone has one. You need to take the Sorting Hatquiz.”
“No,” Hank said abruptly. “Could you be any slower with thatcoffee?”
“Yes,” I said. “So I’d watch your manners,sir.”
A smile peeked out from the corner of his mouth. He took a sheath of papers from his clipboard. “Please?”
“That’s much better.” I handed him his mug first since he was a savage and took it black. I stirred a lot of cream and sugar in mine and joined him at the counter. “Is that myquote?”
I reached over and grabbed my reading glasses. Hank really needed to use bigger font on his documents. “Am I going to be able to retire when you’re done withme?”
Hank shook his head. “Depends on your definition of retirement. If it’s in Tahiti with cabana boys, I’m sorry to say no. But if it’s here with ramen on the menu?Maybe.”
I grinned as Hank slid over the docs. I skimmed over it and went straight to the total. I slid my glasses off my face and speared him with a look. “No.”
Hank paused in mid-coffee sip. “No?”
“I don’t know a ton about landscaping, but I have received a few quotes on just the front. That quote waswaymore than this one. Redoit.”
Hank set his mug down. “Absolutely not. This is my first real for-hire project. It needs to be on the lowerside.”
“You didn’t account for the labor for the people you have to hire, nor did you account for the majority of plants you planned to use.” I speared a finger at the paper. “You lowballed labor for yourself and the cost of clearing out that land is next tonothing.”
Hank steepled his fingers together like he was about to give me a lecture. “This quote is the one I want to use. I have everything under control. I’ve had my nursery long enough that I don’t need to purchase plants. I grow them by the seeds I’ve taken from prior plants. If I want something new, I purchase it and learn either how to propagate it or grow it by seed. So that wipes out your complaint about the costs of the plants. It’s minimal. I planned to ask my friend, who happens to be an air witch, for assistance in clearing. He owes me a favor. So that one negates your complaint about the land clearing. As far as me lowballing myself, I have reasons for that as well, but I don’t wish to discussthem.”
I shifted in my seats. “Add two grand to this quote or it’s a no go.” He’d quoted the entire project for $5,000. Unheard of for what he was trying to do. The last company I had out here wanted four grand just to redo the front beds with throw awayplants.
“500,” Hankcountered.
“1500,” Iretorted.
Hank fell silent for a moment. “$750.”
“No,” I snapped. “$1250 and that’s final. I’m walking away if you don’tagree.”
Amusement spread across his face. “You know that negotiations usually go the other way,right?”
“You short changed yourself and your talent.” I crossed my arms against my chest. “I don’t even consider this to befair.”
Hank drained the rest of his coffee. “It is fair.” He reached down and grabbed his pack and pulled out a sheath of papers. “This is the contract. It lays out what we plan to do. What happens during rain delays, timelinesetcetera.”
I took the papers from him. “What’s the timeline onthis?”
“Right now I have it at two full months. It’s a lot of work to do. This, provided the weather stays good. As long as there are no unforeseen circumstances, we should be able to finish prettyquickly.”
I took a few minutes to read over all the documents, signed, and put my pen down. “You’re a Hufflepuff, aren’tyou?”
Hank laughed, took the paperwork from me, and packed everything up. “I’ll call you later in the week so we can get start dates worked out. You’re starting work againMonday?”
“Yep. I had to shift all my appointments, but I haven’t confirmed them all yet. I’ll be busy, but we should still be able to work it out.” I did not tell him I had plans to raise Dolores thisweekend.
“Good,” Hank said as I walked him to the door. “Make sure yourest.”
