On The Rocks

She’s not immune to my nearness, because even I can feel the heat that swirls between us. Her spine stiffens a little, and I watch with amusement as she pushes her shoulders back so her head lifts tall and proud.

I literally can’t help myself when I bend forward just a bit and softly say, “You look beautiful. But then again… you always did.”

I’m even more amused when she takes a quick step forward to get away from me, and I almost want to laugh out loud when I hear the way her breath comes out all shaky. Keeping a neutral look on my face, I walk past her and sit behind my desk, motioning for her to take a seat. She does so, sitting on the edge of the chair, completely ill at ease in my presence.

While it strokes my ego to know that I still have an effect on her, I don’t want this to be unpleasant, because I know how important this is for her. So I give her a reassuring smile and say, “I’m excited to see your bid. Casey made sure to text me this morning to tell me how impressed she was with it.”

Far from putting Gabby at ease, her face turns slightly red and she snaps, “I don’t want you giving me this job just because Casey is my best friend. You need to leave that out of this.”

I’m surprised by the vehemence in her voice, and I hold my hand up. “Easy now. I was just pointing out that Casey is proud of you. But don’t worry… I make my own decisions, and I’ll be choosing the best bid for the job. Our personal connection won’t have a damn thing to do with it.”

I make sure I put a world of innuendo in the word “personal,” and it has the intended effect. Gabby’s face goes even redder, and she swallows hard. I know her mind immediately went back five years to that kiss, and yeah… I’m thinking about it now as I stare at those lips, which were like heaven against mine.

“How about showing me what you got?” I gently prompt her, and she moves quickly into professional action.

Handing me a binder, she directs me to open to the first page and then she walks me through her proposal. I’m stunned right off the bat to see that she’s done something that none of the other contractors did. She actually questioned the architect’s plans that I had drawn up, pointing out some areas that she felt could be improved with a few design changes. Amazingly enough, even with the changes, her proposal is significantly lower in cost than the next lowest bid I received.

“This looks really impressive,” I tell her sincerely. “But I’m not quite sure how you can do it for such a low amount.”

I don’t mean to sound skeptical, but frankly… it doesn’t seem possible to me. I’m relieved that she doesn’t take offense to this but actually gives me a confident smile. “That’s easy… I’m going to be doing a lot of the carpentry work myself rather than sub it out.”

“And you can do all of that in the proposed timeline you gave me?”

I see a small kernel of doubt filter across her face, but then it’s gone. She nods and says, “I promise I’ll keep to schedule. I mean… I’ll be doing some of the work after hours, and I won’t interfere with the running of your business. But yeah… I can meet the deadlines.”

I glance back through the entire bid again, making sure I don’t have any other questions. It’s professionally done, and I’m truly impressed. I am a little bit leery of her taking on the carpentry work herself, not because I doubt her talents. I’ve seen enough of Gabby’s work over the years, including a custom-built china cabinet she made for my parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, that I know she can deliver a good product. I’m worried about her being able to do this all on her own, within the time frame specified.

“Gabby… are you positive this isn’t too much? I’m not saying I accept your bid, but if I did… I could work with you on the timeline.”