Page 45

Luna
“The permit didn’t go through.”
Parvati didn’t even wait until I fully exited my town car to tell me. Nope. She held the door open and casually dropped the latest in a series of setbacks.
“Fuck,” I swore, adjusting my dress to make sure I didn’t show the goodies to the men wandering around the active worksite.
Parvati performed her typical Sorkin-inspired walk ‘n talk, taking us from the street to the main entrance of the job site. By the looks of it, there were a handful of folks erecting the steel beams that would keep the place upright. Things were busier than ever, and yet there managed to be setback after setback.
“I swear it’s like the city doesn’t even want us to build with the way they are putting up one bureaucratic barrier after another. It’s bullshit, is what it is. This happened to me once before on a job site in Southern California. Let me tell you, I started attending every damn city council meeting to make sure they saw me and knew exactly what they were doing by stalling our project. It was for a non-profit that got unhoused folks back to work! And they tried to stop me.” She huffed, as if the challenge was nothing but a battle to win.
Despite my increased heart rate and the sour taste in the bottom of my esophagus, I knew for certain that Parvati would do everything she could to remedy the situation. That was the kind of leadership and badassery I wanted around me at all times.
I looked at her pointedly. “You tell me when the next meeting is, and I’ll show up with red lipstick and my eyes lined so sharp they could kill a man.”
Parvati smiled smugly. “You up to some vigilante shit?”
“Something like that.”
She nodded approvingly. “And in the meantime, I’ll pay the city a little visit. I’ve dotted my tees and crossed my ‘I’s. I know the paperwork is perfect and their excuses are total bullshit. If I have my way, you won’t have to step foot in a city council chamber.”
Parvati waved me forward to the trailer that served as her headquarters. Thanks to Sebastian’s surveillance equipment and the new “Business” tab on my Steele Cyber Security app, I was able to check in on the project whenever I could.
I wonder if this is how parents feel who have nanny cams throughout their house. It had felt a little like spying when I first got access, but honestly, it’s my site and I found it soothing to watch the feed in the wee hours of the night while I laid restless in bed.
We each took a seat at the small round table inside the trailer. “We also need to talk about the designs for the breakfast buffet. Drew sent them to both of us. Have you had a chance to take a look?” Parvati asked.
I groaned as I considered the interior designer I’d hired for this project. “I did. My list of changes is probably going to drive Drew away, but I can’t have a breakfast buffet in a luxury, boutique casino and hotel that looks anything less than perfect. We already have cheesy-kitchy covered by the other casinos. I’ll be damned if I let mine get steered in that direction. People are going to spend almost a hundred dollars for breakfast. It can’t look like they are stepping into a bottle of Pepto Bismol.”
Parvati released an unhinged giggle. It clashed with what I knew about the woman who—in my mind—embodied the term “put together.” “I’ve been trying to figure out what it reminded me of. That’s exactly it.”
“Oof, I knew it the second my peepers laid eyes on that god-awful design.”
As Parvati continued to talk through the items on her agenda, I already started mentally planning to visit my bestie and get her input.
* * *
“I’m gassing up the PJ and coming for a visit.”
Faith blinked. “Excuse me?”
I pulled my suitcase out of the hallway closet with one hand and held the phone in my other hand, granting Faith a shaky view of me and my brownstone.
“I need your design expertise, and I need to escape the city for at least twenty-four hours.”
Faith laughed. “You're always welcome here.”
Sebastian groaned in the background. “Who is that?”
Faith set down her paint brush. As usual, my friend was creating masterpieces in the atrium of the gorgeous house she shared with Sebastian. “It's Luna. She's coming for a visit,” she shouted over her shoulder before turning back to me. “You aren't really taking a private jet here are you?”
“Nah, there's no good place to land. Besides, all my money is going into this casino, so I have to be smart with it. Town car it is. I should be there in three hours. Make sure you brew a pot of coffee; we’re going to need it.”
I watched Faith leave her easel and sit down on a nearby couch. “Ohh, what are we doing this time?”
I threw a swimsuit in my bag and a couple of bras and undies. Clothes. I still needed clothes. “I need to provide feedback on the buffet and, oof, it's a doozy. That brilliant brain of yours better be ready to brainstorm. This designer is getting feedback like they've never seen before. Frankly, I might have to switch interior design firms. It's that bad.”
I pinched the spot between my brows, a headache forming.