expense, a far better job than she could afford, and he did not want her to know that he had done so.
“I’ve made an extensive list, with cut sheets and full specifications, of these potential substitutes. It has only upgrades, as you’ll see. And if you don’t like anything, we’ll pull it out and go with the original.”
“You can do that?”
“There’s no structural work. We can do that.”
“But you might have to repaint a room, or redo a floor or something. Wouldn’t that injure your profit?”
“No,” said Fitch, quite honestly, for on this job he would have no profit as commonly understood. He would have, as commonly understood, a loss. “You’ll see in the contract that if any substitution, or all, will not meet your approval, you can require us at absolutely no additional expense to install the original, to meet the contract specifications exactly.”
Taking out a little leather portfolio, she opened its red Florentine cover and,shuffling the pages, said, “I’m going to be away until Monday, March eighteenth. You might put a lot in, in a month, that I might make you pull out.”
“Not to worry,” Fitch told her. “In a month, we’ll be mainly setting up, doing demolition, the systems rough-ins, framing, and administration—permits, ordering, receiving, inspections, all that kind of thing. It’s a five-month job.”
“My father said six months. Can you do it in five?”
“I’m going to put a lot of men on it. You’ll see that there’s a penalty clause. We’ll have to refund to you five hundred dollars for every day past the completion date.”
“And what do I pay for every day that you’re early?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s right.”
They were looking at one another directly, eyes locked as if purely because they were in the crux of a business negotiation. Anyone viewing them from nearby, however, might have thought that they had fallen into the lovers’ traction that one sees so often in New York, mainly in restaurants, as gardens and bowers are scarce.
“It sounds so disadvantageous to you. It makes me nervous. Do you understand?”
“Of course I do. Look, I don’t know what happened to the country, but everybody tries to screw everybody else. More so than in my father’s day, more so than when I was a child, more so than when I was a young man, more so than ten years ago … more so than last year. Everybody lies, cheats, manipulates, and steals. It’s as if the world is a game, and all you’re supposed to do is try for maximum advantage. Even if you don’t want to do it that way, when you find yourself attacked from all sides in such fashion, you begin to do it anyway. Because, if you don’t, you lose. And no one these days can tolerate losing.”
“Can you?” Lilly asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Tell me.”
He hesitated, listening to the clink of glasses and the oceanlike roar ofconversation magnified and remagnified under the vaulted ceilings of the dining rooms off to the side. “I can tolerate losing,” he said, “if that’s the price I pay, if it’s what’s required, for honor.”
“Honor,” she repeated.
“Honor. I often go into things—I almost always go into things—with no calculation but for honor, which I find far more attractive and alluring, and satisfying in every way, than winning. I find it deeply, incomparably satisfying.”
“How do you stay in business,” she asked, “in
Manhattan
?”
“We do a lot of work in Brooklyn,” he answered. “Look, although I’m not as rich as some other contractors, I always have a steady supply of work, and usually it goes well. Sometimes we have a loss, but we’re paid back in reputation and in pride in what we do and how we do it.”
“I know,” said Lilly, “from last time.”
“Take the contract home. You don’t have to sign it now. Bring it to a lawyer.”
“My father’s a lawyer.”
“That’s perfect.”
“But, listen,” she said. “I don’t
“I’ve made an extensive list, with cut sheets and full specifications, of these potential substitutes. It has only upgrades, as you’ll see. And if you don’t like anything, we’ll pull it out and go with the original.”
“You can do that?”
“There’s no structural work. We can do that.”
“But you might have to repaint a room, or redo a floor or something. Wouldn’t that injure your profit?”
“No,” said Fitch, quite honestly, for on this job he would have no profit as commonly understood. He would have, as commonly understood, a loss. “You’ll see in the contract that if any substitution, or all, will not meet your approval, you can require us at absolutely no additional expense to install the original, to meet the contract specifications exactly.”
Taking out a little leather portfolio, she opened its red Florentine cover and,shuffling the pages, said, “I’m going to be away until Monday, March eighteenth. You might put a lot in, in a month, that I might make you pull out.”
“Not to worry,” Fitch told her. “In a month, we’ll be mainly setting up, doing demolition, the systems rough-ins, framing, and administration—permits, ordering, receiving, inspections, all that kind of thing. It’s a five-month job.”
“My father said six months. Can you do it in five?”
“I’m going to put a lot of men on it. You’ll see that there’s a penalty clause. We’ll have to refund to you five hundred dollars for every day past the completion date.”
“And what do I pay for every day that you’re early?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s right.”
They were looking at one another directly, eyes locked as if purely because they were in the crux of a business negotiation. Anyone viewing them from nearby, however, might have thought that they had fallen into the lovers’ traction that one sees so often in New York, mainly in restaurants, as gardens and bowers are scarce.
“It sounds so disadvantageous to you. It makes me nervous. Do you understand?”
“Of course I do. Look, I don’t know what happened to the country, but everybody tries to screw everybody else. More so than in my father’s day, more so than when I was a child, more so than when I was a young man, more so than ten years ago … more so than last year. Everybody lies, cheats, manipulates, and steals. It’s as if the world is a game, and all you’re supposed to do is try for maximum advantage. Even if you don’t want to do it that way, when you find yourself attacked from all sides in such fashion, you begin to do it anyway. Because, if you don’t, you lose. And no one these days can tolerate losing.”
“Can you?” Lilly asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Tell me.”
He hesitated, listening to the clink of glasses and the oceanlike roar ofconversation magnified and remagnified under the vaulted ceilings of the dining rooms off to the side. “I can tolerate losing,” he said, “if that’s the price I pay, if it’s what’s required, for honor.”
“Honor,” she repeated.
“Honor. I often go into things—I almost always go into things—with no calculation but for honor, which I find far more attractive and alluring, and satisfying in every way, than winning. I find it deeply, incomparably satisfying.”
“How do you stay in business,” she asked, “in
Manhattan
?”
“We do a lot of work in Brooklyn,” he answered. “Look, although I’m not as rich as some other contractors, I always have a steady supply of work, and usually it goes well. Sometimes we have a loss, but we’re paid back in reputation and in pride in what we do and how we do it.”
“I know,” said Lilly, “from last time.”
“Take the contract home. You don’t have to sign it now. Bring it to a lawyer.”
“My father’s a lawyer.”
“That’s perfect.”
“But, listen,” she said. “I don’t
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