A Wrench in the Works

by Kate Carlisle

  “Wow, good guess. Is that why they call it the Wagner house?”

  She grinned. “Yep.”

  I laughed, but quickly sobered as I read more details. “This says that both families are scheduled to show up first thing tomorrow morning.” I leaned in close and whispered, “Is this where Blake announces which house they’ve decided to work on while the owners are standing there?”

  She grimaced. “Yeah.”

  “And you and I won’t be on camera for that, right?”

  “Right. Remember I told you that Blake does that segment by himself?”

  “I remember, but . . .” I read it over again. “So looking at the rundown, we don’t actually know which house we’re going to be working on.”

  “No, but Bree does. She’s scheduled all the equipment and supplies for one house or the other. It’s a weird way to run a show, but like I said, she loves the drama.”

  “I’d say she loves chaos,” I muttered, already worried about having to deal with disappointed—or worse, furious—people.

  Chloe glanced around. “Yes, but don’t say that too loudly.”

  Making a quick decision, I said, “I want to be there when they film Blake making the announcement.”

  “Are you sure, Shannon? It’s kind of depressing.”

  “But if they reject the Bloom house, I want to know about it. I’m the one who suggested that Bree look at the house in the first place. And Margaret Bloom is an old friend. If she’s rejected, I still have to live in the same town with her and her family.” Just thinking about it made my stomach churn. “If I can do anything to help ease the disappointment, I’ve got to try.”

  “I know it’s rough on everyone.”

  I nodded, mulling something over in my mind. “If Margaret loses out on the makeover, I might offer to do some work on their house for a discount.”

  “That’s awfully nice.”

  I shrugged, feeling a little down, almost as if the Bloom house had already lost the competition. I really wanted to fix that house. And the thought that Bree would deliberately set people up to have the rug pulled out from under them irritated me. “I feel sort of responsible for dragging Margaret into this.”

  Chloe breathed heavily. “I hate Bree for doing this to people.”

  I decided to take heart in the fact that the scheduled “reveal” would take place at the Bloom house. That had to mean something, right? Ready to change the subject, I glanced at the second page of the rundown. “Looks like we’ve got Mac’s deck and Peggy’s closet scheduled for next week. And the Baxters’ bathroom, too. And all that while we’re refurbishing the main house, right?”

  “Yes. Should be a fun-filled week.”

  “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “It can get crazy but we always have a good time.” She sloughed it off with the attitude that she’d been doing this for so long, it was old hat to her. “Plus we always have a full crew to pick up the slack while we’re filming one segment or another.”

  “That reminds me,” I said. “We talked about it on the phone, but you never said for sure whether you wanted to use any of my crew.”

  She looked perplexed. “Absolutely yes. I thought I told you.”

  “Maybe you got busy and forgot?”

  She winced. “That would figure. I’m really sorry. But yeah, even though we bring in a huge crew to do a lot of the heavy-duty demolition and rebuilding, we always hire local crew to work with us on anything we need done immediately. I hope your guys are available.”

  “Definitely. I’ve got five people I can spare. One of them is my lead foreman, Wade Chambers. Do you remember him from school?”

  “I do,” she said with a grin. “He’s a nice guy.”

  “And Sean Brogan,” I added. “Does that name ring a bell? He’s my lead carpenter. I thought I’d ask him to work with us, too.”

  “Of course I remember Sean. He’s my friend Amy’s big brother.”

  I was happy that she’d remembered. “That’s right.” I wasn’t about to mention it to the production staff, but Sean had been a murder suspect last year after I discovered his older sister Lily’s remains in the dumbwaiter of Mac’s house. It was a long, sad story, but happily Sean had been completely exonerated.

  All of a sudden I felt the energy in the room change. Carolee and Lorna abruptly stopped talking. The others turned and stared at the door as another man strolled into the office. I looked over, too, and the phrase hubba hubba popped into my head.

  The man was built like he’d been carved out of marble. It helped that he wore a T-shirt tight enough to see his six-pack abs and muscular arms.

  Chloe waved. “Oh, Diego. Come here. I’d like you to meet someone.”

  The other women watched him move as he walked toward us. With an easy grin, he gave my sister a big hug. “How’re you doing, Chloe?”

  “I’m super. Diego, this is my sister, Shannon. And this is Diego Navarro, our head carpenter.”

  “Hi, Diego.” I reached out to shake his hand and he simply held mine in his.

  “What a pleasure to meet you, Shannon,” he said, flashing me a beautiful smile. “It’s a treat to work with Chloe and I’m psyched to be working with you, too.”

  I caught a slight accent and as we shook hands, I tried not to stare. The guy was young, maybe early twenties, and drop-dead gorgeous. In another life he would’ve been cast as a superhero in some megablockbuster movie. Tall and muscular with dark hair, dark eyes, and bronze skin, he seemed as genuinely sweet as he was handsome.

  “Thank you, Diego,” I said, finally slipping my hand from his. “I think it’ll be fun.”

  One of the bedroom doors opened and Bree Bennett walked out wearing linen palazzo pants and a tightly fitted tank top that showed off her tanned arm muscles to perfection. Glancing around, she spotted Chloe. “Oh, good, you’re here. I’m just finishing up with Suzanne, but I want to see you in my office as soon as she comes out.”

  Apparently they’d set up one of the bedrooms to be Bree’s private office. I shot a glance at Chloe, who looked slightly queasy. I wasn’t at all happy that the producer wanted to see my sister alone. So much for being a buffer between the two of them.

  “Sure, Bree,” Chloe said in an upbeat tone. Then as soon as the woman closed the door, she turned and faced me. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “It’s no problem,” I said.

  Less than a minute later, another woman walked out of the designated office. She was tall and thin with long blond hair braided down her back. “Chloe!”

  They hugged each other like long-lost friends.

  The woman glanced at me with interest. “Is this your sister?”

  “Yes, this is Shannon.” Chloe said. “Shannon, this is Suzanne Roberts. She’s our production manager, which means she’s really important and we couldn’t do any of this without her.”

  “Shannon, wow, it’s so good to meet you.” She shook my hand vigorously. “Chloe is my anchor. My rock. My everything.”

  Chloe laughed. “Oh, shut up.”

  I shook hands with her. “Hi, Suzanne.” I liked her immediately, mostly because she really seemed to like my sister. It also helped that she had a wicked sense of humor. Gazing up at her, I realized, Holy moly, this woman is tall. At five foot eight, I considered myself tall enough, but Suzanne towered over me. She had to be over six feet.

  “It’s true, she really is disturbingly tall,” Chloe said dryly, apparently reading my mind.

  “And not model tall,” Suzanne insisted with a lopsided grin. “More like, you know . . . awkward geeky tall.”

  “You’re beautiful,” Chloe said staunchly. “Anyway. Shannon, if you need anything, you talk to Suzanne. She keeps an eye on everything from the budget to scheduling to legal snags to . . .” She stared up at Suzanne. “What in the world do you actually do?”<
br />
  “As little as possible,” Suzanne said.

  “She’s kidding.”

  “Yes, I am.” She looked at me. “Seriously, please let me know if you need anything. I’m here to help.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, Suzanne.”

  “Chloe,” Bree called from the other room. It sounded like a commander barking an order.

  Suzanne winced at the sound. “Sorry I can’t stick around, but call me later.”

  Chloe gave her arm a squeeze. “I will.”

  She ran out of the suite and Chloe turned to me. “I won’t be long.”

  “Okay.” I glanced around, then whispered in her ear, “If you don’t see me in here, I’ll be waiting in the bar.”

  “Excellent idea.”

  She walked into the bedroom office and closed the door behind her.

  Diego coughed self-consciously. “So, Shannon, you’ve lived here a long time?”

  “I was born and raised in Lighthouse Cove.”

  “It’s a beautiful place.”

  “I’ve always loved it.”

  “I can see why.” He gave me another cheerful smile. “So maybe you can give us some restaurant recommendations.”

  “Absolutely.” I listed a few of my favorites off the top of my head. “Why don’t I write up a list of other places to eat and things to do while you’re here?”

  “That would be awesome.” His slight accent made everything he said sound seductive.

  “I’ll have it for you tomorrow. In fact, I can make a bunch of copies for whoever wants one.”

  “Thanks, Shannon. Everyone will appreciate it.”

  “I want you all to enjoy the town.” Heck, if the crew enjoyed it and the show went well, maybe they’d come back and do another few episodes at some point. “It’s a pretty cool place.”

  “I think I’ll check out that pub tonight.”

  I grinned. “You’ll like it.”

  He glanced toward the bedroom/office door and frowned slightly. “I should get going,” he said. “Thanks again, Shannon. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  “See you then.”

  He started to walk away but stopped abruptly as shouting erupted in the bedroom.

  “For God’s sake, Bree! You can’t do that.”

  My shoulders stiffened. That was Chloe shouting!

  “Who’s going to stop me?” Bree said.

  “I am.”

  “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

  Shocked that my sister’s boss would talk to her that way, I glanced around the room, but nobody would make eye contact with me. Was it because it was my sister doing the shouting? Or were they trying to ignore the fact that their boss was so aggravating and stupid? And did Bree insult Chloe like this all the time? Were they all accustomed to it? And if so, why would Chloe put up with it?

  Diego wisely slipped out of the room.

  I caught a strong whiff of shared guilt in the room, as if they were all part of a dysfunctional family and Mama Bree’s whacko behavior was being revealed to an outsider, namely me. Now they couldn’t sweep their dirty little secret under the rug.

  No wonder none of them would look me in the face.

  Or maybe I was imagining things. But I didn’t think so.

  Bree was murmuring something we couldn’t hear, quickly followed by Chloe yelling again. “Damn it, Bree. You’ll ruin everything.”

  “Does this happen all the time?” I demanded of anyone in the room.

  “Bree can be . . . difficult,” someone muttered. I think it was Carolee.

  Difficult didn’t hardly cover it, I thought, still surprised that my sister was yelling at her boss and being insulted in hearing range of her co-workers.

  I couldn’t stand being in that room a minute longer. Frankly, I didn’t trust myself not to barge in there and tell Bree to stop treating my sister so horribly.

  If Bree did anything to hurt her, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold back from smacking her upside the head with my favorite all-purpose, solid steel sledgehammer.

  I had to get out of there. “See you all tomorrow,” I said loudly, and walked out. The sooner I got to the bar, the better.

  But as I left the suite, I happened to glance down the hall. Standing at the separate entrance to the bedroom, with one ear pressed against the door, was Richie Rich.

  What was he doing here?

  It helped that his back was to me, but he was clearly so caught up in his eavesdropping he didn’t notice me. As he listened, he checked his watch and huffed out an impatient breath.

  After hearing Bree berate my sister for the last few minutes and now watching this jackass snooping around, I hit my boiling point.

  “Hey!” I shouted. “Get out of here!”

  He didn’t even look my way to see who was yelling at him! Instead, he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head and scurried off in the opposite direction, disappearing around a corner.

  “What a weirdo.” I exhaled in frustration and walked off in the direction of the bar.

  I couldn’t wait to see Chloe and find out what all that screaming was about. I just hoped she hadn’t been fired again. It didn’t sound like it. No, it sounded like Bree was trying to pull off something stupid and Chloe was angry about it. I could feel the tension through that closed door.

  The vision of me swinging that sledgehammer flitted across my mind and I blinked it away. Not that I would ever resort to violence, but the fact that I was actually envisioning it was not a good sign. I was a fairly even-tempered person, but don’t screw around with my family!

  The bar was almost empty except for a few people lingering after lunch. I sat down at a small table in the corner and ordered a beer. It was a bit early in the day to start drinking, but it was a warm afternoon and besides, I needed something to help calm myself down. The waitress brought it right away, along with a small bowl of pretzels, and I gave her a grateful smile.

  “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” I muttered to myself, and took a sip. Relaxing into my chair, I tried to breathe more steadily as I gazed around at the people in the bar in an effort to take my mind off the scene I’d just left.

  After a moment, I pulled the shooting schedule from my purse and stared at it, hoping I could make a list of things I needed to do to prepare for tomorrow. But I couldn’t concentrate. My brain was still playing over the words I’d heard Bree shouting at my sister. Chloe shouting back didn’t seem so out of line when you considered that the boss had called her “stupid” at the top of her lungs. And besides the fact that I’d overheard Bree and Chloe arguing about something obviously important to both of them, I’d also caught Richie Rich listening in on the whole discussion. Why? What was he doing here?

  “I hope you ordered me one of those.”

  I glanced up at Chloe. Relieved that she didn’t seem to be crying or red with outrage, I managed a smile. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Sit down.” I waved at the waitress and ordered a beer for Chloe.

  “So I assume you were still in the office when Bree and I went at it?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Everyone was. It was awkward. Even more awkward would’ve been me storming in there and shutting Bree up myself.”

  “Sorry it upset you. And I appreciate your restraint. Honestly, what you heard seems to be happening more and more often lately.”

  Afraid of her answer, I winced as I asked, “Did she fire you?”

  “Oh no. Today she loves me.”

  “That’s love?” I broke a pretzel in pieces and bit into one of them as I shook my head in disbelief. “That would be a relief except for the fact that the two of you were blaring angrily at each other. The words I heard did not fill me with a feeling of love.”

  Chloe bit into a pretzel with enough power to snap steel. “That’s because she
’s insane.”

  Just then the waitress brought Chloe’s beer. Then she dashed off to fill other orders.

  “So what’s she up to now?” I asked. “What were you yelling about?”

  Chloe sighed deeply. “Apparently she’s firing her husband.”

  “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not sure I heard you correctly. She told you she’s going to fire Blake?”

  “No, no.” Chloe waved her finger at me and took a sip of beer. “I misspoke. She’s already done it. She fired Blake.”

  “But you said she doesn’t mean it when she fires someone.”

  “Not usually. And Blake didn’t look too upset earlier, did he?”

  I shook my head. “Not at all.”

  Frowning, my sister said, “Maybe he was just playing it cool in front of the staff.”

  “Maybe.”

  “It would be just like him to pretend everything was fine. But this time I’m not so sure she doesn’t mean it.”

  “What’s different about this time?”

  She took another deep breath and let it out. Then she leaned in and said very quietly, “She told me that one of the big networks wants to mount a brand-new home improvement show. We’re talking big budget, big salaries, prime-time slot. And they want me to host it.”

  “But, Chloe, that’s fantastic,” I said.

  “Oh, it’s great. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled.” She took another sip of beer. “Except my co-host would be Diego Navarro. They’re planning to push Blake out of the picture.”

  Ah. Well, hadn’t I just been mentally tallying that Blake was kind of old for the job? And that Diego was hunkalicious? Still, didn’t loyalty count for anything in Hollywood?

  “But . . . Blake is the star,” I said. “I mean, so are you, but wasn’t he the one who created the show in the first place?”

  “Exactly right.” Chloe slumped back in her chair. “That’s what I told Bree. And besides that, the viewers love him. You should see how the fans come out whenever we show up anywhere. He’s got legions of followers, and not just women. Guys love him, too.”

  “Diego’s kind of gorgeous,” I said lamely.

  She chuckled. “Totally. Everyone loves him, too. But I’m not sure he’s a real star.”