“Here,” I said, tapping her on the shoulder and gesturing for her to step aside. “What’s the combo?” She recited it to me, and I spun the dials, and the box popped open. As I opened the doors, I did the math on what the buyer was looking to net on this purchase and realized pretty quickly that some of the older apartment homes on this block and the next would eventually raise their rents to draw in the types that would rent this high-end product.

Shit.

And whoever bought this place probably thought they were doing a good thing. That the neighborhood would benefit from these positive changes. Some folks who bought into this particular American Dream were just ignorant to how it would affect the demographic makeup of the neighborhood and disrupt the culture that made them want to live here in the first place. Others didn’t care. Still, others felt that it was inevitable and unstoppable, so why shouldn’t they get a piece of the pie if it was gonna happen anyway? These were the people I was up against, and suddenly, it all felt pointless.

“See? It has just as much wainscoting and heavy crown molding as the Gold Coast mansion, but in this lighter stain, it feels, well, lighter. I feel like it opens the space up.”

I nodded. “How does it measure up comp-wise? Are there homes like the Gold Coast mansion on your list with this light finish?”

“Well…no, but—”

“So, it doesn’t make sense to use finishes or make stylistic choices that won’t appeal to the target buyer for this product.” I looked around, ran my fingers along the silken, high-gloss, damn near honey-colored stain. “It’s beautiful, but if we chose this, and it affected the bottom line—”

Juana turned to me with her hands on her hips. “So negative before you even run the numbers? What is going on with you, Tomás? Your attitude is for shit these days.”

Stunned by her outburst, I stepped back and crossed my arms. “I wasn’t aware that I had anything going on but this job. You seem to think otherwise.”

She sighed. “I’m just saying that you seem different lately. You don’t seem as excited as you were when you signed the paperwork for this house. Did something happen that I should know about?”

Laughing, I shook my head. “Nothing is going on, Juana. I just want to make sure we’re making sound business decisions.” I shrugged and walked the perimeter of the room. “But I was dismissive with you just now, so I apologize for that.”

“Thank you,” she said in a small voice.