Page 125 of Not Looking
I headed upstairs to Dale’s office, knocked on the door, and headed in when he responded. “Want a work buddy while I meet with Simon and Ollie?”
He grinned. “Hey Randy!” He turned. “Hey, Russy! Come’ere.”
Russy padded over and disappeared behind Dale’s desk.
“Good boy,” Dale said as he turned and appeared to scratch behind Russy’s ears. “You’re with me for a while.”
“Thanks,” I said as he turned back to me.
“No prob,” he replied. Then he winked. “Also, him being with me means that I’ll be able to ask about that ring on your finger.”
I choked on air.
He laughed. “I’ll see you after the meeting.”
“Ok,” I squeaked.
I scurried down the hall to the meeting room and took a seat beside Simon.
“Thanks for coming,” Ollie said. “The planner will be calling in about an hour, and I want to kind of get our side nailed down before she tries to steamroll us.”
“Is it really that bad?” I asked.
He leveled a stare at me. “Look, I know you don’t do the wedding tax thing. But tack on fifty percent… at least. Honestly, I suggest doubling. She’s going to insist on haggling and will be pissy as fuck if she thinks you aren’t moving enough. She’ll get you below material costs if you let her. So start high, decide how much of a volume discount you want to give, and hold firm well above that. She’s going to keep trying to get you lower even after we leave here today.”
“We had to threaten to cancel if she demanded any more discounts,” Simon agreed. “We’d finally settle on something, then a few days later we’d be waiting for her to sign, and she’d want to come back for another round of negotiations.”
“And this is theplanner?” I asked.
“Yep,” Ollie confirmed. “I’ve already told Dale I’ll walk before I take another couple with her.”
“And I wouldn’t blame him,” Simon said.
“And you’re dragging me into this mess because…”
“Because it’s a lot of tedious work that you’re going to hate. But you’ll net a nice profit even with a volume discount.”
One of my eyebrows went up.
Ollie shrugged. “This couple has fuck you money, and for some reason decided to come here rather than get married at some exclusive island resort that’s used to this shit. And they want the works with the woodland chic vibe.”
“Oh?”
Simon sighed. “They might actually use up everything you have dried that comes from the property. And that’s assumingyou have the right sizes. Be ready to say you can use wood from around the lake, but that not all of it will be from the resort.”
“Ooooook…” I pulled out my phone and opened my notes app. “What are we looking at?”
Ollie blew out a breath and picked up a tablet to look at his own notes. “Florals… They want a live-edge turned bowl as the centerpiece of every table. I know we’ll have to line them with a plastic or glass container for the water.”
He turned the tablet to show me an inspiration photo with a wood bowl and an intricate floral display. Flowering vines cascaded over the sides, then some bushy type roses, and what looked like curly willow giving height from the middle.
I whistled. “Damn.”
“She’s asking for a twenty-inch diameter. Varying heights.”
I snorted. “Only if they’re buying me a new lathe. I can do fourteen, but anything bigger and it won’t clear the bed. Not that I’ve got wood much bigger than that anyway. I core greenwood and let it dry, so I’m not waiting a couple extra years for the whole thing, or have to worry about kilning it. There are a few pieces… maybe. But even if I had more swing, we’re talking two… three max. So they’re getting a fourteen-inch diameter from me. Fifteen if they’re incredibly lucky and I don’t lose much when rounding, but honestly, I’m not even going to present that as an option.”
“Good call. And I’m glad there’s a hard limit.”
