Nancy’s Theory of Style Read Free Page A

misinterpreted it as foreplay.
    She put the books on her bedside table
and said, “It shouldn’t be an issue of money, honey bunny. It’s about quality. I
want our house to be beautiful next year and ten years from now and a century
from now.”
    He lay on the bed next to her. His eyes
were acid-wash denim blue, with lashes as pale as straw.
    “Old classics get rebuilt and improved
over the years,” he said. “We can always take our equity and move up.”
    “I thought we agreed that we were going
to stay here.” She wished they lived in a time when she could give her house a
name. Peregrine House, The Meadowlands, Carrington House.
    “All I’m saying is we have a budget, and
we’ve got to stick to it.” He and some biz school buddies had started a venture
capital firm and were still seeking investors and exploring start-ups. “You
said you were thrillified with the plans.”
    “But I could be more thrillified. I just
want it to be right.” She was thinking about a guest bath, now, and how perfect
it would be to have a Japanese soaking tub with views across the hills. She
knew that she couldn’t compromise, shouldn’t compromise and said, “If I think
we need improvements to the original plans, I’m willing to cover the additional
costs, because excellence cannot be reduced to a parakeet.”
    She saw his confused look and said, “A
parakeet is also called a budgerigar, or a budgie, thus budget.”
    “I’m not verbal enough to keep up with
your word associations,” he said as he put his arm around her waist. “I’m more
physical. You live with me which proves you can live with imperfection. Your
father is not going to let you sink any more into construction.”
    She laughed. “Everyone knows I can’t
live with imperfection. I’ll sell off the stock I got as a wedding present, and
that way he can’t stop me.” She wove her fingers through Todd’s hair and made a
mental note to buy a different kind of conditioner for him.
    “Over-improving a property is never
advisable.”
    “Either you believe the development’s
property values will increase, or you don’t. Tell me now.”
    “Yes, yes, it’s prime, but that isn’t
the issue. Your ideas about what’s necessary are way beyond what anyone else
cares about or notices. What you spent on the wedding…”
    “The wedding was incredible. Everyone
said so,” she said. “It’s my money. I want to do it for us and the family we’ll
have.”
    “I’d argue, but I know how you are when
you’ve set your mind,” Todd said. “But make all your decisions prior to
construction. Remember that many calculations lead to victory, and few
calculations lead to defeat.”
    “Is that from The Art of War again? You
can’t apply Sun Tzu’s rules about military strategy to modern life, Todd.”
    “Yeah, you can,” he said. “For example,
I should have taken evasive maneuvers to avoid Junie Rug-Burns Butt.”
    “I wish you wouldn’t call her that
dreadful nickname.”
    “I’m not the one who came up with it,” Todd
said blandly. “GP’s another loser, but he’s setting up a meeting for me with
his family’s people.”
    “GP is adorable and crammed with
potential. I’m his career counselor and I’m giving him a reverse makeover.”
    “Whatever that is. You just like him
because he takes every crazy thing you say seriously,” Todd said. “You know how
his family got their money?”
    “Everyone knows. High tech.”
    “That’s the story they tell. But his
mom’s family had a crappy little deli in Cupertino ,”
Todd said with a smirk. “She traded sandwiches for stock with start-ups, and
turned a few hundred bucks worth of greasy cold cuts into a fortune.”
    “Todd, he may be new money, but in a
century his family will be oldish money. It doesn’t hurt to build a
relationship now. Speaking of old money, I was thrillified that Bailey came. You
should convince him to buy a Villagio Tuscana lot. All our friends should buy
lots and then we