Best Friends Forever

She shrugs, pivoting toward the front door and climbing the steps with a jaunty bounce.

“Yeah, the housing recession just destroyed us in around 2008, 2010. There are a lot of starts that you could probably pick up for a song. And if your whole brand is revolutionary like this, you could be looking at going national!”

The front door swings open and Wanda steps out, holstering an eight-pound hammer in her very butch toolbelt and wiping her palms on the back of her jeans.

“Hey, there, sweetie!” she croons, and I realize she’s not talking to me when Elise skips up the stairs and plants a big, emphatic kiss on Wanda’s waiting lips.

“I love this place!” Elise confides. “Is this mine? Is this for me? Did you build it just for me?”

Wanda rolls her eyes. “Oh yeah, I just knew there was going to be an adorable redhead in my future. I hope you like pink!”

Elise wrinkles her nose and Wanda taps her on the freckles playfully.

“Okay, I was just kidding about the pink. Would you like to see it? What are we talking about?”

“Oh, I was just trying to convince Penny that she should grab some investors and take her revolutionary living designs to a national audience!”

Wanda looks back over her shoulder at me with her eyebrows up sarcastically. “Oh? And how is that going?”

“All right, quit it,” I huff as I enter the building.

“Don’t take it personally, sweet thing,” Wanda sighs. “Lots of people have tried to convince Penny to expand, or even get her own business, but she just won’t take the plunge.”

Elise swoops around the living room, dragging her fingertips across everything excitedly.

“Okay, does the whole place look like this? Because this is amazing!” she announces.

“Two words… sunken bathtub!” Wanda announces dramatically.

I follow them, trying to keep my distance from the explosion of love pheromones they are currently spraying in every direction. Sure, they are cute, but this is intense. I get the feeling that Wanda may have had Elise in mind when she made changes to this unit, after all. She definitely had a lot of design opinions that got implemented without question. Of course, it is difficult to say no to her.

Elise spins around, shaking her head in disbelief. “Tell me again why you are not a national company, Penny? Is it a religious objection? Because anything short of that and you are just throwing away an opportunity!”

I try to keep my expression neutral, but this is bordering on harassment.

“Guys, I need to start small. You have to be patient with me, okay? I’ll do something. You don’t have to push me quite so hard.”

“I’m not pushing you,” Wanda observes as she crosses her arms. Her stubborn body language is reflected infinitely in all the mirrors in this beautiful bathroom.

“I am pushing you a little bit!” Elise interjects. “Seriously, if it’s not a religious objection, it can probably be ignored, right?”

“It’s just money, Elise,” I shrug, backing away. “Just a whole lot of money. I’ll get there eventually.”

Elise and Wanda exchange glances. Their habit of psychic communication is a little annoying.

“I could totally be an investor,” Elise shrugs. “Or if you like something more impersonal, I can find you investors. I have friends. They have more money than they know what to do with. Let me help you!”

“You know what? Let’s talk about this in a little while. I think my phone is ringing.”

Lame, I know, but I needed a reason to get out of that bathroom. All those reflections are making me nauseous.

As I leave the bedroom to take my fake phone call, I hear Wanda from far away.

“That’s just how she is,” she observes sarcastically. “Determined to shoot herself in the foot with both barrels.”

“You know what?” I call out as they walk farther into the house, totally into each other and not even hearing me. “I might surprise you one of these days! I might only use one barrel!”

Irritated, I walk back out onto the driveway, peering up and down the street at my development. Because it is my development, just like Elise said. These are my ideas, and I’m giving them away to Ron like they’re nothing.