1
RAIDEN
“And then there’s George,” Hunter says as he picks up another résumé. He glances at it and brings it an inch closer to his eyes. “Yes, George Wess. With a double s.”
The spelling doesn’t matter. “What’s special about George?” I ask. I owe my brother beers for years at this rate. He’s gone and reduced over two hundred applicants for my summer internship to a handful.
“Well, this potential intern just completed a four-year degree in design,” Hunter says as his gaze runs down the few pages.
Sitting here in his office doing business things makes me feel all inconsequential and, at the same time, on the brink of life-changing success.
“And there’s work experience on various interiors and other building projects during all those summer vacations. Plus, there’s no comparison to the list of references on this résumé with the other applicants we’ve short-listed.” Hunter flips the page and turns it to me to show me this list of references. “Seems George took two years between high school and college to work. So, lots of hands-on experience. This résumé is all meat, no padding just to up the page count. George means business.”
George sounds like quite the star. I’m sure someone in Hunter’s office, his personal assistant, Brittany, or some other administrative person, checked up on all these references before Hunter insisted that I drive all the way from Boston for this meeting. One thing we all know about Hunter: he dots his i's and crosses his t’s. There’s no way I can ever thank him for running the application process for my summer gig through his company’s HR department and web portal.
“The final point in favor of this applicant,” Hunter continues as he keeps scanning through the paperwork, “is that keeping the financials for your project won’t be an issue. George knows several accounting software packages and has kept track of expenses before.”
That takes a load off my back and is one of the main reasons I need to have a capable assistant working with me on my competition entry: I suck at admin. Big time.
“Those are all George’s pros. There’s only one con.” Hunter holds out the résumé to me. “George is from Miami.”
Miami? Like in Florida? Might as well be from another planet. “Why would anybody from Miami want to spend their summer in Vermont, in a hot-as-hell barn?”
“The project, maybe? It’s a nice one-off. The possibility of a career boost should you win? It would look great on a résumé. All the same reasons you’re doing this.” Hunter shrugs. “Or simply for the money.”
“Fair enough.”
Hunter shakes the papers he’s holding out to me, and I lean in to take them from him. I add the résumé to the stack on my side of the desk.
“You’re sure you’re doing all this in line with the competition’s rules?” Hunter asks as he folds his hands on his desk.
“Yep.” One thing I can’t afford is to break any competition rules. I haven’t come this far to get disqualified on a technicality. “Cash and I went over them several times. Six weeks to build, a fifty-thousand-dollar budget, and I’m allowed one assistant or intern to help me build the tiny house.”
“Only six weeks? That sounds crazy.”
“A tight timeframe is part of the challenge. With all the design work done and planning in place, working full steam, it’s doable.” And after all, by the time I get to build the full-sized tiny house, I will have done the model-sized version twice. “The prescribed specs for the build are fairly specific, but they don’t interfere with any of my ideas.”
“And Cash isn’t allowed to enter with you? Or help?”
“Nope. No established big shots in the building industry are allowed to enter. The idea is that this competition funnels money to start-ups. They’ll auction off the competition’s tiny houses on Labor Day after the convention. It’s meant to be the highlight of the whole event. So they’ll want something practical that sells and hopefully makes them some money.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” Hunter says with a nod. “What else?”
These are the easy parts. There’s an add-on that I didn’t quite take into consideration when, after much deliberation, I entered the National Tiny House Competition. I never dreamed that I’d make the cut to the ten finalists, so now I sit with a situation and a production schedule I don’t know how to manage. “A TV crew from New York will check in once a week to see my build’s progress for a new reality show they’re producing. This is a trial run and there might be more seasons, but they hope to garner interest in next year’s Tiny House Convention and Competition.”
“And how are you going to deal with that?”
I open my mouth and close it again and curse under my breath. I’m not going to snag on my words with Hunter of all people. I take a deep breath. “Dunno. Take it as it comes? It’s only one day a week for a few hours.”
Hunter stares at me for a long minute and then drops his gaze. “You’re pretty enough. Just smile and wave.”
We both smirk and the tension in the office dilutes a bit—we Logan brothers don’t look half bad when we clean up. Here’s Hunter, all handsome CEO and boss-like in his light blue button-down that matches his eyes—our eyes. He’s made me proud.
But that’s the extent of Hunter’s pro tips when it comes to talking with strangers in front of a camera. Neither of us is used to that type of attention and even Hunter, smooth talker that he is, avoids the media at all costs. I swallow and the knot in my stomach tightens. This competition is my out and I have to make it work. Surely the bank will grant a loan to the winner of the inaugural National Tiny House Competition. As I sit here, I don’t have a chance in hell with any financial institution, but I need money to start my own business. Even if I place in the top three, it might be enough to sway a bank’s assessment of me in a positive direction.
“So, Uncle Bill has offered you his new barn as a building site?” Hunter says.
“Yeah, first thing he did when he heard from you that I got into the finals was to call me and beg me to use that space.” Our Uncle Bill and Aunt May are gold and in their own way they always look out for me. “He’s pausing the installation of the milking machines until the beginning of October, but water, electricity, and the Wi-Fi will be up and running. He even offered to put in a portable toilet if he can’t get a septic tank installed in time.”