Which Suggested Architect
‘So, Max,’ I glared over the top of my orange juice glass. ‘Have you heard my daughter’s plans?’
‘Her plans?’ he asked me, enthusiastically tucking into a croissant with a knife and fork, too unaware to feel the roiling tendrils of rage seeping off of my body towards him.
‘The house she intends to build,’ I nodded. ‘Alone.’
‘Woah,’ he nodded, grinning widely like a dog. ‘That’s awesome, babe. Super chuffed!’
My daughter smiled at him as she came back out onto the patio, and shot me a suspicious look.
‘That didn’t take you long,’ she said, cocking her head.
‘It was an innocent question,’ I said, only thinly trying to hide my intentions.
‘Right,’ she nodded with a smirk. ‘Maxy, baby, you want to help me pick out one of the best architects operating in Melbourne to build my dream home?’
‘Hell yeah,’ he mumbled around a large bite of pastry. ‘Sounds like a date!’
‘You know,’ I said quickly, ‘I used to know a lot of people in the architecture game, back in in the day.’
‘Woah, no kidding,’ Max nodded, wide-eyed and completely enraptured.
‘I kid you not,’ I said, smiling thinly at him. ‘Point is, I might be able to introduce you to some people.’
‘Let me guess,’ my daughter said with a sigh, dropping into the seat next to Max and opposite me. ‘These were corporate-type guys, yeah?’
‘Well, I suppose they could be—’
‘So,’ she cut me off, ‘they probably only work for commercial architecture firms, right?’
‘I guess I couldn’t say where they are or aren’t—’
‘So they wouldn’t be the best bet for me,’ she continued, pressing a hand to her chest, ‘a residential owner who needs an architecture firm who is familiar with the wide range of residential-specific guidelines, laws and regulations, no?’
‘I guess not,’ I grumbled, sipping my juice. ‘Point is, I know some guys, okay?’
‘Noted,’ she said, with an icy grin.