Rory: Hope City, Book 7 by Maryann Jordan (uplifting books for women txt) 📕

just take an office here, it’d be easier on you,” Heather laughed, handing Sandy a hard hat.

Smiling, she nodded before walking to the elevator. She left Todd on the first floor to meet with Dave to go over the office plans for that level. She and Barbara were getting off on the fourth floor to look over the work that had been completed. She wanted to assure that the design elements were being implemented correctly and check to see if any adjustments needed to be made. Barbara would ascertain if her decorating choices still felt correct for the space and light. Being able to see the natural light coming through the windows could change the aesthetics.

With plans in front of her, Sandy carefully inspected the interior walls, doors, and windows. She loved the flow of the rooms, pleased that the individual clients had allowed her to lead them through the process of designing their offices.

“Sandy? Can you come into the workroom?”

Following Barbara’s voice, she stepped into the area that would be the workroom. “Did you need me?”

“Look at this!”

Stepping over to one of the inner walls, she looked in the direction Barbara was pointing. Cabinets would be placed along the wall, both on the floor and higher, leaving an area for a counter. The client had indicated that this room would be a break room and multiple electrical outlets would be needed for an industrial-sized coffee maker and large microwave as well as a refrigerator and any other appliances the employees would want to be plugged in. At this time, the walls were bare except for the open outlets filled with wires.

Leaning closer, she observed there were no copper ground wires. Instead of two black wires and two white wires, there was a mess of other multicolored wires crammed inside the small box. “Well, I’m not an electrician, but that doesn’t look right.”

She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, then said, “Whenever you get finished up here, you can go on down with Todd. I’m going to see if I can find someone from Perkins Electrical Company and see if they can tell me what’s going on here.”

She walked out of the office-to-be area and down the hall to an empty space with just the outer walls complete. Seeing several men around, she moved to them, looking for anyone with the electrical company logo on their shirt. “Do you know where I might find someone from Perkins Electrical?”

“Last I saw, Jonny was on the fifth floor,” one of the men replied. “That was about half an hour ago.”

Smiling her thanks, she skipped the elevator and walked up the stairs to the next floor. Walking around for several minutes, she finally found a short, heavy-set man sitting on an upturned bucket in the middle of the floor with his lunch spread on his lap and his drink sitting on the floor next to him. Seeing the Perkins Electrical logo on his shirt, she smiled as she approached. “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your lunch, but I wanted to ask you about the—”

“Who the hell are you?”

Maintaining her calm in the face of his rudeness, she replied, “I’m Ms. Carmichael, the interior designer for the offices in this building. I was just in office 4-C, specifically in the workroom, when I noticed the wiring in outlets.” Pulling out her phone, she quickly scrolled to the photograph of the outlet she had just seen. “This is one, like many in the area, and I wanted to know when they might be finished.”

“Why are you taking pictures of the outlets? That’s got nothing to do with you.”

“It does when I’m looking at the health and safety of the people that will be occupying the office,” she replied, her voice gaining an edge.

“Look, lady, you’ve got no idea what you’re looking at. I understand the wiring, and you understand making shit pretty. I’m not going to tell you your business, so get the fuck out of mine.”

She held his gaze without saying a word for so long, he finally squirmed on his bucket seat. Lifting a hand, he wiped his mouth, and she could see thoughts working behind his eyes as though he was trying to figure out how far to push her.

“A lady never raises her voice in anger but can always find a way to express her displeasure.” A slow, Grinch-like smile curved the edges of her lips. Bending, she leaned closer. “I’ll be more than happy to stay out of your business just as soon as I’m satisfied that you do know what you’re doing. Until then… enjoy your lunch.” Standing straight, she looked down her nose at him, something she rarely got to enjoy considering her short stature. Turning on her heel, she moved to the elevator and went down to the first floor.

Finding Dave in the office with Todd, she waited until they completed their discussion, then jumped in. “Everything in 4-C looks good except for the electrical outlets. I’ve taken several pictures, and I just had a rather unproductive—and I might say rude—conversation with Jonny from Perkins Electrical. I don’t trust him, and I don’t trust whoever might be coming behind him in a supervisory capacity that would be signing off on his work. Therefore, I hate to throw more duties on to you, Dave, but you’re going to have to inspect his work as he goes.” As she spoke, she turned her phone around and showed him the photograph as well.

“Damn,” he grumbled. “I’ve already talked to him once. I’ll get with his supervisor and talk to him.” Holding her gaze intensely, he added, “You don’t have to put up with his mouth, Ms. Carmichael.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Oh, believe me, I know. My grandmother always told me to not get loud when angry, so I learned at an early age to make my point well known.”

Todd walked over, chuckling. “I can attest that she knows exactly how to make a point.”

She hesitated,