“It’s all laid out in the folders in front of you,” I told my nemesis, gesturing to the packets I’d put in front of every chair before we started. “There are other areas of the renovation to focus on while the atrium is off limits.” Chase opened the folder with one hand, giving the first page of the ten I’d typed a cursory glance before he went back to glaring at me.

“And what are these?” he asked, pointing at the swatches for the wallpaper I’d designed.

“They’re wallpaper.” I infused as much fairy dust as I could into my voice, but it was taking everything I had not to curse this asshole out. “They have quotes from classic literature from all over the world and will go in the main reading room as well as around the circulation desk. I did the lettering by hand,” I explained, and though Chase was not impressed, Tina gave me a thumbs-up. I zoomed in on the swatch and pointed to a sketch of a ceramic mug full of hot chocolate. The plume of smoke coming out of it was a quote from Como Agua Para Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I had quotes hidden in imagery from other books all over the design. “I know Smithson-Napa has just launched a line of customized wallpaper.” The rep perked up at that, which put a little bit of wind in my sails. “I thought that would be a good way to showcase a new product, by using some of these designs and noting they were made with the customization tool.”

The woman opened her mouth to say something, but Chase started up again.

“That is completely niche! The Smithson-Napa clients won’t be interested in wallpaper that’s about foreign books!”

“Como Agua Para Chocolate sold millions of copies. There was a feature film made from it.” I patted myself on the back for how calm I sounded, because I was truly ready to cut a bitch. “That book, or any of the ones I chose for that matter, will not be niche for the predominantly Latinx community that will be using this library.” The Smithson-Napa rep’s lips flattened when Chase snorted at my comment, but I kept going. “Who knows, perhaps it could even give those who don’t know those books something new to learn about.”

“Whatever happened to using things that people actually can pronounce,” Chase retorted in that insanely irritating tone of his. “Can’t we just do Snow White or something? Kayla has some ideas—”

“Can you let her finish her fucking presentation?” Theo roared, his hand slamming on the table as he bolted up from his chair, making half the room jump in surprise.

“I was just making some points.” Chase paled and his expression went from thunderous to meek the moment Theo got in his face. I stood there like I’d been sprayed with nitrogen.