Ven is still working as Toby's main contractor, flipping houses, and this time around there's more than one project going on. Toby has someone else working on his Cinderella house, an old place that needs a lot of work, but when that contractor falls behind, Toby knows Ven is
the man for the job.
Ven is happy to help out with a house Toby loves so much, but he knows he might need more work to keep
him and his family afloat. Another job offer makes things that much harder for Ven, because what he finds in Toby's arms may not be enough to pay the bills. Will the boys be able to work things out and keep on working together?
excerpt:
Day 20
Toby blamed his realtor. For everything. He
hadn’t meant to end up with two houses at the same time. His rule had
always been one house at a time, but when she showed him the rundown
Victorian, he hadn’t been able to resist.
Now, with the contractor standing in front of him, spewing excuses, he was regretting that decision.
“Mr. Bartlett,” Toby interrupted. “Mr. Bartlett, we’ve spoken about this twice before. We’re on a deadline. We have ten days left.”
Bartlett sputtered. “Look, we ran into some snags...”
Toby
sighed, scrubbing his hands over his hair. He needed a trim; the curls
were getting out of hand. “Some snags? Mr. Bartlett, have you looked at
this floor?”
Toby was already kneeling down, staring at
the mess one of Bartlett’s men had made of the bathroom tile. Bartlett
reluctantly knelt down in front of him.
“The grout is
already cracking,” Toby said, pointing to the offending jagged, black
lines. “And you can see where the tile is uneven. That’ll be starting
to crack next. Did you not replace the subfloor before you started?”
“The subfloor was fine,” Bartlett objected.
“The
subfloor was broken and uneven,” Toby countered. “And it’s making a
mess of my tile.” He stood up, brushing off his slacks. “I’m afraid
we’re finished here, Mr. Bartlett.”
“Finished? I’ll just get the boys back to work, then.”
“No,
Mr. Bartlett.” Toby sighed. Why couldn’t all contractors be as good as
Ven? “You misunderstand. You’re fired. I’ll pay you for today, since
your crew has already been here several hours, but I don’t want to see
you back here tomorrow.”
