Page 33 of Her Hidden Smile

“Exactly. So, there are five board members. Edna Fairly’s brother-in-law has a construction company in Nashville that is three years old. They need this project, so my guess is that she’ll be advocating hard for them to get it.”

“Gotcha. You can win her over, can’t you?” Harvey asked me.

I shook my head. “But I should be able to win the rest over. Leave it to me, boss, you go kick Tina’s boyfriend’s ass.”

Harvey lowered his shoulders and shook his head. “Tina is going to be the death of me.”

Wasn’t that the damned truth?

He must have given her everything she wanted as a kid and made her into the spoiled, entitled woman she was today.

Harvey clamped one of his big paws on my shoulder. “Is there any way I can get you to take a minute and talk to Jenny Brooks? She’s over at Wiley Plumbing Supply and she wants to talk about the bid Junior gave us.”

“Who’s Jenny?”

“She’s Beckett’s daughter. She just came back from some college on the West Coast. Supposedly, she’s good with numbers and according to her daddy, she knows every kind of estimating and accounting software there is. He tried to get me to hire her, but…”

“But what?”

“A California college?” Harvey made a sour face.

“What about it?”

“Who knows what kind of kooky ideas she might have learned out there?”

I laughed. “How about me? I went to University College London. The UK has socialized medicine.”

“It does?”

“Yep.”

“Well, geez. But you don’t believe in that kind of shit, do you?”

“Harvey, you’re getting off track. Why do I need to talk to Jenny?”

“She says that something’s off with the bid for the elementary school.”

“Shit,” I muttered. At least it wasn’t too far off. They only came in seven percent lower than the next bid I’d considered. It would hurt if we got the job and we had to go with the other plumbing contractor, but we could suck it up.

“I’ll call her on my way to Nashville.”

“Good.”

I looked Harvey in the eye. “Anything else?”

“I think that’s enough, don’t you?”

“It’s easier than having to tell Tina that you kicked her latest boyfriend to the curb.”

Harvey let out a deep laugh. “Ain’t that the truth? The only way this is going to work is if I find her a man. Are you sure you don’t want to go out with her? You know I’m going to want to retire, eventually.”

“Harvey, we’ve been over this already. I’m more than happy to discuss partnering up, but I’m not looking to marry into your business.”

He pulled off his Stetson and scratched his head. “I’m not looking for a partner.”

“That’s what you’ve said, and I’m okay with that. Especially since you’ll be cutting me in on the profits for the elementary school job if we get it. But I’ve got to consider my long-term future, and I’m not so sure that Jasper Creek is where it's at.”

“With all that you’ve done, we’ll get the bid,” Harvey grinned.