Tipping the Balance by Christopher Koehler

Saturday and Sunday were his busiest home-showing days, and Friday was spent preparing. Thursdays were for errands.
     
    It was time to pool research and brainstorming about the Bayard bid. Drew had spent the morning with Nick getting the bed/bath reno off the ground, and now was prepared to spend the rest of the afternoon working on the bid for a project that looked like it could not only take on a life of its own, but take over both of their lives too.
     
    “The site tour’s set up for Monday. You’ll be there?” Drew said.
     
    Emily nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I’m coming back early from a romantic long weekend at the coast to beat this heat. My wife’s not happy, but it’s not like her job’s never interrupted things.”
     
    “Poor little surgeon. She finally takes some time off, and then her wife ups and gets busy,” Drew said, pretending to pout.
     
    “I’m always busy, I’m just not adjusting to her schedule this time,” Emily said with a snicker. She shoved some books across the table to him. “Here. I’ve marked a few things for you to look at. These are illustrations and pictures of period furniture. It’s what would’ve been found in east-coast homes of the wealthy when the Bayard House was built.”
     
    As Drew looked at the illustrations and photographs of Civil War-era furniture and fixtures, Emily looked around. “What I could do with this room. Such good bones, but it’s a blank slate.”
     
    “You say blank, I say clean and uncomplicated,” Drew said. He sat back in his chair and tried to see his dining room through Emily’s eyes. It was plain, even austere. He was fine with that.
     
    “You’ve been here how long? What’re you waiting for?” Emily said. Then she peered at him. “That’s it, you’re waiting for something… or someone.”
     
    “I’m just not in a hurry,” he said. Then he cringed. He sounded defensive even to himself.
     
    “Mmhmm. So what about this guy you were telling me about? The one who might be able to help us out,” Emily said.
     
    “I’m still sounding him out.” Drew crossed his arms over his chest.
     
    “Hurry up about it. We don’t have all that much time, you know.”
     
    “I know,” Drew said, “but I don’t want to rush things and scare him.”
     
    “You still think he’s the missing piece of our puzzle?”
     
    Drew nodded slowly. “He just might be. He’s not a contractor, but he knows what goes into it, and I think he might be open to getting his license. He’s certainly not happy in his present job. Most important, he’s really interested in this. He can’t hear enough about it.”
     
    Emily looking at him shrewdly. “Sounds like a good possibility. Anything else? Something else you want to tell me about him?”
     
    Drew looked at her, his face expressionless. “No, not that I can think of.”
     
    Emily knew him well, almost as well as Nick, but there were places he just wasn’t ready to go with her yet. He knew he had a crush on Brad, but wasn’t ready to say it aloud yet. Interested, absolutely, if Brad were gay. But crushing on a straight guy was just pathetic, and he didn’t want to hear it from her. None of that changed the fact that Brad could be a real asset to what he and Emily had planned. If he had to, he could keep his feelings under control.
     
    “So you’ll call him, right?” Emily said.
     
    “Yeah, I’ll call him,” Drew said, laughing a little. It was all he wanted to do, but he was trying not to be a stalker.
     

     

     
    The next evening, a Friday, found all three Sundstrom men at home, much to Brad’s irritation. His relationship with Philip was complicated, and he just plain didn’t like Randall. It was so time to move out. All it took was money.
     
    Work was work. The air conditioning had been fixed early enough that morning that the day hadn’t been a total waste from a deodorant standpoint, and he’d shown some of those dismal houses too. Still, given