Page 1 of Next Door Midlife Alpha
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“You’ve gotto be kidding me, Nina.” Stacey Williams had just opened an email attachment on her cell phone and gaped at the flashy colors. “Why is this red?” She was relieved that, even though she was technically on vacation, she’d made everyone run their marketing proposals by her before they went out to their clients.
“Because it looks good,” Nina replied, already starting to sound anxious. “I thought it was bright and crisp, really eye-catching, you know?”
“Sure, but McKnight Insurance’s main competitor already uses red in every piece of their marketing. We need to make sure McKnight stands out.” Stacey rose from the desk in her home office, rubbing her forehead. She hadn’t taken vacationtime in over two years, skipping out for only a few hours when Vivian had a dance recital, and so far, this week hadn’t felt like much of a vacation at all. The thumping music coming from the first floor wasn’t helping. She turned toward the stairs.
“But they use that knight as their logo to go along with their name, and the plume in his helmet is red,” Nina protested.
“It’s called a hackle.” Not that the correct terminology mattered here, but she knew her client was particular about those kinds of details. She’d already spent an hour haggling with the graphic design department to make sure the little feather in the knight’s helmet was waving in the wind in just the right manner. It was a good thing McKnight Insurance was paying them well, but Stacey knew they had to justify that fee. “If you use red for the background of everything else, the hackle won’t stand out. We need to go with the blue we discussed.”
Nina let out a long sigh. “I guess I can change it, but couldn’t we see what the client thinks first? What if he really likes the red? And what is that noise?”
That was precisely what Stacey was trying to find out as she descended the last stair and looked into the living room where the painters were busy working. Apparently, they’d brought speakers loudenough to use at a music festival. “I said we’re using blue.”
“What?” Nina asked. “I can’t hear you.”
Aggravated with how this whole day was going, Stacey yelled, “I said we’re usingblue!”
The music stopped, and four painters suddenly turned to her. Gary, the one who seemed to be in charge, thumbed over his shoulder at the wall they’d just finished painting a soft shade of sage green. “No one said anything about blue. This was the paint sample Edgar gave me.”
“Not you.” Stacey pressed her hand to her forehead. “Nina, send me the new files when you finish them, and under no circumstance should you show anything to Mr. McKnight until I’ve seen them. I’ll talk to you later.”
Gary chuckled as he realized what had happened. “For a second there, I thought you were about to pound me into these old hardwood floors of yours. I’m glad I’m not the one who chose the wrong color if you’re that mad.”
“I’m not mad,” she countered.
A few of the guys exchanged a look, and Stacey took a breath. “All right, maybe I am a little mad. But I should be able to take some time off work to get my house in order without worrying about coworkersmessing everything up. I worked long and hard to get my job.”
“I’m sure you did, or you wouldn’t have been able to buy a house like this,” Gary replied, gesturing around him at the high ceilings, gleaming hardwood floors, and arched doorways.
“The thing is, I need to get back to work. That’s actually why I’m down here. I can appreciate that you want music playing, but could you keep it to a minimum? I can hear it all the way up in my office and can’t concentrate.” She didn’t want to sound too irate, but these guys were working in her home.
“No problem. We’re clocking out for the day anyway.” Gary put the lid on a paint bucket and hammered it shut with a mallet.
“What?” Stacey checked her watch, shocked to see it was already five o’clock.
“Yep,” Gary confirmed as he wrapped up his brushes and kicked the paint tarp out of the way. “We’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”
“Right.” When they were out the back door and had headed off down the road, Stacey realized just how tired she was. So much for time off! Didn’t people go to the beach or the mountains when they took a week off work? It sounded nice, but Stacey knew she just didn’t have time. She slumped downonto the couch in the living room, which had been covered with a drop cloth.
She stared at the half-painted wall. The sage green contrasted horribly with the deep mustard yellow that the previous owners had chosen. It wasn’t cheap to have the place professionally painted, nor had it been cheap to have all the hardwood restored and the kitchen cabinets refinished. It meant that Stacey had to continue to work all the harder at Martin Marketing, one of the biggest firms on the East Coast. She was providing her children with the lifestyle they deserved, though, one where they had a nice home to bring their friends to and a big backyard to play in.
“And one with a big green stain on the ceiling,” she muttered as she leaned back on the sofa and looked up. Someone had gotten sloppy with the sage paint and left a splotch on the freshly painted cream ceiling. Stacey stared at it for a minute, gritting her teeth. How could people be so careless? She would never get away with a mistake like that at work. In fact, she’d seen people get fired for lesser offenses.
She checked her watch again. Stacey had made the mistake of getting a fitness tracker, even though she hardly had time to work out. It showed that her heart rate was steadily ticking upward—annoyingthing. Todd would be dropping the kids off soon. Then, it would be time for a homemade dinner, baths, and a few snuggles before bedtime. She’d have to order a new pair of dance shoes for Vivian and schedule a haircut for Elijah, who seemed to go from neat and trim to full-on caveman in a matter of a week. Oh, and she needed them to finalize the paint colors for their rooms and pick out new bedding.
Despite the growing list in her mind, Stacey couldn’t stop staring at that green spot on the ceiling. “The painters will get it tomorrow,” she told herself as she went into the kitchen to check the freezer and see what she could throw together once the kids got home. She knew Todd fed them nothing but fast food and chips, so she’d have to find something to balance it out. But as she crumbled tofu into a skillet, she couldn’t stop thinking about that stupid green spot.
Stacey marched back into the living room and glared at it. It was just a bit of paint. It shouldn’t matter, yet she knew she wouldn’t get a damn thing done until it was gone. It was more offensive than the hideous yellow still waiting to be covered.
Well, fine. She was a capable woman. Gary had left his ladder there, and she moved it directly underthe irritating green spot. Stacey checked the paint colors on the tops of the buckets and found the creamy color she’d chosen for the ceiling. Grabbing a flathead screwdriver, she stuck it under the lid and began prying it up. It wasn’t working. She adjusted her grip and tried again, wondering how the hell these burly guys managed to shut the damn things so tight. With a final pop, the lid jumped off the bucket and landed on the floor. Paint side down.
“Seriously?” Stacey carefully lifted it, wondering just how much damage she’d done. Only a tiny dot of cream stained the deep honey of the hardwood since most of the liquid on the underside of the lid had already dried. Well, at least one thing was going her way.
She allowed herself a small moment of satisfaction as she found a clean brush and dipped it into the paint. There was something pleasing about it, a visual and tactile feeling she hadn’t stopped to experience in a long time. Life was too busy for that. Swiping it on the edge of the bucket, she headed up the ladder.
When she reached the top, Stacey realized she wasn’t as close to that section of the ceiling as she thought. No problem. She reached out, swiping the dreamy cream over the green and trying not to beannoyed at her new paint color just because it was in the wrong place.
