Maddy's Oasis (4 page)

Even with such an amount, she would miss her
deadline of four months by at least a month. Madeleine rubbed her
eyes and looked at the numbers anew.

She reached for the unopened bank statements
sitting on the edge of the desk. They had come nearly two weeks ago
and were marked as being from the local banks fronting the money
for the construction project.

She opened the first and compared the
dangerously low balance to Alex’s calculations. He was twenty cents
off, quite a feat given his inability to find his office supplies
on a daily basis. Satisfied, she opened the second.

There was a negative balance of nearly a
million dollars.

Madeleine looked again, surprised. She
compared the statement to the book, which listed this account as
supposed to be holding a good lump of as-yet unused money to the
tune of about thirty million. She sighed. The project was nearly
broke, and the money in the bank was owed to debtors. How she would
weave tens of millions from thin air to pay for construction
starting from today to the end, she didn't know.

She checked her watch and dialed Nigel. His
phone rang straight to voicemail.

“Nigel, it’s me. Give me a call. It’s
urgent.”

The smell from the bathroom was creeping out
this day, she noticed in distaste. She rose and closed the door.
She rubbed her temples, which pounded from lack of sleep and
coffee.

“You here this early every day?”

Jake’s voice made her jerk. He opened the
door wider and stepped into the office.

“Yeah,” she said, and straightened. “What do
you need?”

“You have the blueprints?”

“On the desk.”

He crossed to it and pulled
free one of the books
.

“Blueprints for
Idiots
,” he read, amused.

She snatched it. Jake gave a ghost of a smile
and set down one of the two thermoses he carried as he reached
forward to roll the sheets.

“Have some coffee. You can’t be getting much
sleep.”

“This project takes priority,” she
replied.

“That’s what I hated about back east. All the
stupid shit that takes priority.”

“Priorities are important.”

“In the right order, yeah,” he agreed in a
long, slow drawl, the one he used when he was irritated with her.
His gaze took in her overnight bag sitting on the couch. “You
aren’t thinking of staying here tonight.”

“I’ll have more visibility if I stay.”

She moved around him to sit behind the desk.
She closed her accounting book before he could see all the negative
balances and the dozen debtors she'd highlighted.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Why is it I feel as though I’m the only
person taking this project seriously?” she demanded. “It’s been
four days, and I haven’t seen any change in this mess.”

Jake planted his hands on the desk and leaned
forward until his face was too close for comfort.

“I suggest you back off and let me do my job,
ma'am, especially since you don’t even know what my job is. I'm the
only damned man in Texas who can save your pretty little building
right now.”

He rose and tossed the book before her,
walking with a controlled smoothness that warned her she had yet
again managed to climb under the skin of the laid-back
contractor.

Her face felt hot. She glared after him and
snatched the thermos before he came back to claim it. He'd been
bringing her coffee every morning. She didn't know what to think
about it, especially since most of their discussions ended with him
stalking away, pissed. At least the coffee never disappointed her,
even if everything else here did.

Her project was doomed, and
these people would never understand how more was jeopardized than a
stupid building. Nigel had offered her a bonus large enough to
repay her mother's medical debt AND pay for Mama's next surgery. If
she succeeded. She hated,
hated
being a bitch, but it shouldn't matter what these
people thought of her, not when her mother's life may depend on her
finishing this project.

Determined to plug on, Madeleine dug out the
first stack of receipts and began going through them one by one and
entering them into her accounting book.

Eric arrived promptly at seven, frowning.

“Maddy, we have a problem,” he said with
unusual soberness.

“What now?” she asked, accepting the massive
cup of coffee he held out.

“Dotty-- Nigel’s assistant-- called me in the
middle of the night,” Eric said, sitting. “She said she overheard
Nigel tell someone that there is another update to the
blueprint.”

“Seeing as how we haven’t gotten very far, I
don’t think it can be much of a problem,” she replied. “Do they
know how far off schedule we are?”

“Not at all!” Eric said. “They believe you to
be ahead of schedule, so much so that Mr. Howard is already
scheduled to fly down in about a week to tour the site.”

“He
what?”
she exclaimed, bolting
upright.

“Dotty said Nigel told Lily’s staff to
prepare for his trip. He expects there-- ”

Her BlackBerry buzzed. Madeleine snatched
it.

“Nigel,” she said tersely.

“Madeleine, love.”

“I need to discuss a couple of things with
you.” She forced her voice to remain calm though her blood was
bubbling.

“And I you, love. Please go on.”

“I’m afraid the construction isn’t going as
well as Alex led us to believe,” she started. “The site is going to
need quite a bit more money to finish on time.”

“More money?” Nigel echoed, considering. “I
don’t know if that’s an option at this point. Mr. Howard’s advisors
told me yesterday that there is at least twenty-three million
dollars in unspent funds in the banks. He believes you to be under
budget already.”

“I’ve checked both accounts, and there is a
negative balance in one, and about twenty million in the other.
Alex didn't pay off most the contractors and subs he owed money to
for the first half of the project, so the money in there shouldn't
be there. Is there a third account?”

“I’ll see, love, or better yet, I’ll have
Dotty call you after she talks to the finance department.”

“Great.”

“I have news for you as well,” he continued.
“Mr. Howard will be flying down next week to tour the site and
thank you personally for taking over. He expects to see at least
the finished lobby. Alex said it would be complete within the week
in his last update. Mr. Howard would like to conduct his opening
ceremony, though he understands there are four months remaining
until completion.”

“Nigel, it can’t be ready in so short a
time,” she stated. “The marble flooring for the lobby hasn’t even
left Italy yet.”

“I’m sure you’ll make do.”

“Nigel, it’s not possible!”

The door opened. Eric stepped out, speaking
quietly into his BlackBerry.

“He’s made arrangements, love. You know how
hard it is to change his schedule once it’s set. If you’d like, I
can call him personally and let him know you’re not able to keep
Alex’s obligation.”

“No,” she said quickly, thoughts flying to
her mother.

“Or maybe you should meet him when he comes
in and let him know.”

“No,” Madeleine said again, resigned. “I’ll
take care of it.”

“That’s my girl! I’m off. Will call
later.”

“Yeah.”

She could already taste his triumph and felt
sick at the thought of losing her job, and her mama's lifeline. She
hopped to her feet and left the trailer, nearly bowling Eric over.
She snagged his arm as she steered them toward Jake's work
area.

“Jake!”

He and Toni, his foreman, looked up from the
blueprints at his workspace.

“If you utilize all your men, can you have
the lobby finished in a week?”

Jake shifted his weight to one foot and
considered her. Toni, a grizzly though wiry man, smiled.

“Not a chance in hell,” Jake said.

“Mr. Howard is coming next
week and expects to do the opening ceremony in the
finished
lobby.”

“Tell him it’s not feasible,” Toni
advised.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Sure it is. Your phone’s in your hand. Dial
and talk,” Jake said.

Madeleine drew a calming breath. Her head was
pounding again, her lack of sleep frying her temper.

“Mr. Howard expects the lobby to be finished.
I suggest you find a way to meet his expectation, or you will be
replaced,” she said.

Jake met her gaze, challenge sparking in the
dark depths of his eyes.

“Then I suggest you start looking for a
replacement,” he said.

She glanced at Eric, who was frowning. Eric
had called every contractor within two hundred miles and been
laughed at by all of them.

“May I speak to you privately, Jake?” she
asked.

“Right after I decide what to do with my crew
today,” he said, returning to the blueprints. “The less you talk,
the less time it’ll take me.”

Madeleine waited for five minutes. She
glanced at her BlackBerry, shot off two e-mails to the finance
department, and looked up. He still studied the blueprints with
Toni.

Another five minutes crept by as she stood
with crossed arms and a tapping toe. Unable to hold still for more
than a few minutes, Eric moved away to make a phone call. Madeleine
grew too hot and antsy. It was nearly 100 degrees and not yet
midmorning. She paced, irritated at the feeling of sweat running
between her breasts and down her back.

“Done,” Jake announced.

Toni took the scrawled notes the two had been
making and moved away. Madeleine motioned for Eric to keep his
distance and approached the deliberate Texan.

Jake gazed at her, waiting for her to speak.
She was briefly taken in by eyes the hue of melted chocolate.

“The crux of the issue is that there are no
other contractors currently willing to take this job,” she started
in a quiet voice.

“I figured so,” he said. “Everyone knows the
financing is falling through.”

“Everyone? How is that public knowledge?”

“People talk,” he said with a shrug.

“That’s … that’s my concern. Your concern is
to build the lobby first.”

“Won’t be done in a week.”

“It has to be.”

Jake removed his hard hat and rested it on
his hip. He looked around, as if seeking some source of patience,
before saying, “Your pretty little ass is up a creek.”

“Mr. Howard-- ”

“If the president were standing before me,
I’d tell him the same thing I’m telling you: it’s not possible.
Maybe back east you can parachute in an elite construction team to
pick up the slack, but around here, I’m it.”

“If you need more men, more-- ”

“Sweetheart, you’re not listening. I can’t do
what you’re asking. No one can.”

“There must be something you
can do,
anything
to make this work,” she pushed, a note of desperation in her
voice.

“Why do you care so much for what someone
else thinks?”

“I don’t have a choice. This is my job.”

“Yeah, a
job
,” he said.

“Exactly.”

Jake shook his head, a look of irritation
crossing his face. Her face grew warm at his look. If only he
understood how important this was …

“If I put all my men on the lobby work, we
can have something presentable but not functional. It’ll be a
haphazard mess that I’ll have to tear down when Mr. Howard leaves.
I won’t guarantee it’ll even withstand a camera flash, but it might
look pretty enough to keep you out of hot water,” he said at
last.

“You’re serious?” she asked. “You can make
this work?”

“Work, no, look pretty,
yes,” he growled. “It’ll be
superficial
.”

The way he said the last word made her frown,
her face growing hotter at the indirect cut.

“Whatever it takes,” she said.

Jake turned away with a shake of his head.
She watched him, not sure why the thought of him considering her
superficial didn't sit well with her. He was a nice guy, the kind
she hadn't found in the city. She was pushing him hard, and he'd
remained a nice guy. She knew the amount of overtime he put in,
even if she didn't see much in the way of results. There was more
at stake than a job or a building, but someone like him would never
understand. Their two worlds were too far apart.

She returned to the office, determined to
make it through another stack of receipts before emerging again.
She pulled out her list of debtors and scanned through it, once
again surprised that the man listed as being the debtor owed the
most hadn't sent any emails or letters demanding repayment like the
other debtors despite the outstanding five million. She'd been
calling debtors to arrange payment and being chewed out for the
past two days. She braced herself for the worst ass chewing of all
to the creditor owed the most.

Cortez Consulting,
Ltd.,
was listed in Alex's accounting book.
She dialed the number listed next to the account information in the
book and waited.

"Hola," answered a male voice.

"Hello. My name is Madeleine Winters, and I
work for Dylan Howard of Howard Enterprises. I'm the new project
manager for Desert Oasis, replacing Alex Hollon, and I'm trying to
confirm a debt owed to Cortez Consulting, Limited. I couldn't find
the complete paperwork in Alex's files."

There was a pause, then what sounded like a
chuckle.

"This is Joey Cortez. You'll have to square
this with my dad. He's busy now. Could I get your number?" the male
voice answered.

She provided it. The man hung up. Irritated,
she flipped open her notebook to document the time. Before she
could finish, the phone rang.