Page 100 of Mr. Infuriating

“Yeah. I am the owner. I can do that.”

“I thought you had to talk to your brother.”

“He’s my partner, so he’s included on important decisions.”

“And you think your brother would be okay with you giving me an interest-free loan for…” She paused and looked at the ceiling while she moved her lips while writing something in the air before continuing. “Over seven years?”

“Yeah.”

“Andyou’d install the cabinets in exchange for tutoring your son?”

“Yeah. It’s a win-win.”

She scoffed. “Just how long do you want me to tutor him for?”

I shrugged. “Maybe the rest of this semester and his first semester next year.”

“And how often?”

“I dunno. A couple of hours once or twice a week and maybe every other Saturday or Sunday, depending on our schedules.”

Her gaze went to the sky as she did more calculations, then she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Okay. If that’s too much time for you—”

“That’s not it. But it’s not going to work.”

“Why? You’re getting a good deal.”

“Exactly. I’m gettingtoogood a deal. I don’t want your charity.”

“How do you figure you’re getting too good a deal?”

“At twenty hours a month, it should take at least three years of tutoring, if not four. Not a semester and a half.”

I cut her off. “Three years? Where do you get three years? Ten thousand dollars divided by sixty dollars an hour is…” I did the quick math in my head. “A little over one hundred and sixty hours. At twenty hours a month, that’s only eight months. Okay, so maybe a little into his second semester of eighth grade.”

She snorted. “You think I make anywhere close to sixty dollars an hour for tutoring?”

“I don’t know, but you should.”

“I don’t disagree with you, but I don’t even make half that.”

“Well, for the purpose of our bartering, that’s what you’re charging.”

Gretchen opened and closed her mouth like she wanted to argue, then finally said, “Okay, even if I did agree to that rate, there’s still the matter of you giving me an interest-free loan for over seven years, when you’veneverlet anyone make payments before.”

“We’re exploring if we want to make that an option. You’re our beta test to see how it would work.”

I was proud of myself for saying it with a straight face. I still hadn’t told Mav we were accepting payments from her. I knew he wouldn’t fight me on the deal—especially since he knew she wasn’t just any client, but I doubted he’d go for us making it a regular thing with anyone else. Although, we probably could charge more if we did.

It was something to explore and at least discuss with my brother.

So, in a way, she really was our beta test. I was just discounting our services for the privilege of a payment plan instead of upselling them.

Minor detail.

Looking at her pretty face, I hadzero regrets.

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