Page 4 of The Parent Trap

“Sure, boss. Shoot.”

“Is 2120 in Oak Glen livable?”

Cal hums thoughtfully. “Eh, it’s notsellable, but yeah you could live in it. It just needs some cabinet pulls, touch-up paint, some switch plates and outlet plates. I think one of the bathrooms still needs the vanity installed.”

“And it’s not spoken for?”

“Negatory, boss. We had a nibble, but they ended up wanting something already done and we still had a good bit to finish at that point.”

“Okay. My brother is borrowing it for the weekend. He says he’ll be out by Monday at noon. Can you meet him with the key?”

Cal pauses. He doesn’t like Dell any more than I do. “Doesn’t he own—”

“Yeah, Cal, he does,” I cut in. “It’s a long story. Or, actually, it’s not long, it’s just stupid and I won’t bore you with the details.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good, thanks, have a good weekend.”

“No problem-o, and you too.”

“2120 Oak Glen Circle,” I tell Dell, setting the phone aside. “You’re welcome.”

“I, uh…”

“You don’t know where the Oak Glen subdivision is,” I say. “God, you’re useless. We’ve been working on that sub for two years, Dell. How do you not know where it is? You literally pass it to get here.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, Dell,that. The two hundred spec home subdivision your family’s business is building, the project that has added literally an entire fucking zero onto your net worth.”

“Got it. 2120.” He offers a wobbly grin at me. “Thanks, Delia.”

“Yeah, well, try not to trash the place.”

“I’m not throwing a kegger, Jesus.”

“You never know, with you.”

He just waves over his shoulder as he walks away. I shut the door, lock it, and lean back against it.

I may have been ateensybit harsh on the poor sap, but everything I said is just the raw truth.

I sigh, pick up my glass of wine, and turn on Netflix.

“I’mnota sexless prude,” I mutter to no one.

And just to prove it, I turn on a super-steamy Polish romance movie, 365 something.

Chapter Two

Matthais

“What we’re reallyinterested in is decreasing our clients’ overhead costs, decreasing shipping time, maximizing space on shipping loads via breakthrough packaging techniques, and most importantly, drastically cutting each client’s total carbon footprint.” The young man opposite me, Marcus, is a few years younger than me, midtwenties to my thirty, and he’s earnest. A start-up type. Khakis with the front of a polo tucked behind his belt, curly brown hair in an undercut, wearing Warby Parker glasses and Birkenstock sandals.

“Got it.” I tap the arm of the chair with a fingertip, thinking through my options.“And my return on the investment?”

He smiled unevenly. “Well, Mr. Bristow, you’d be helping the planet, for one thing. The construction industry uses a colossal amount of nonrenewable resources, especially lumber. There’s a lot of movement and drum beating regarding eco-conscious lumber harvesting, but our goal with this company is to eradicate the need for lumber entirely. We have plans for a facility that can 3D print the entire framing sections as a whole piece, which would increase the structural integrityandcost less.”