“No,” I lamented. “That part’s tough. It’ll depend on them all being home at once, of course. And then there’s the other factor…”
The other factor. The one part of the whole beautiful equation that nagged at me, more and more, as the weeks and months went by.
“Still nothing?” Melissa asked.
“No.”
“It’ll happen, Sammara,” she said reassuringly. “Don’t sweat it.”
“I know,” I said, more out of reflex than anything. “I’m… I’m really not.”
A long stretch of silence passed. It almost got awkward, but Melissa smiled and swooped in.
“It’s probably just stress,” she said. “Stress about work, stress about the expansion. Your business is growing faster than you can keep up with it,” she went on. “That’s a good thing!”
A good thing. Yes, it definitely was. Since starting Universal Designs almost three years ago, it had blossomed from a decorating and staging service into a full-blown renovations company. And then last year…
Last year I’d brought things to a whole different level.
My ultimate goal — my dream, really — was to not only renovate, but actually build too. As much as I loved restoring old, historic properties, I wanted to somehow be involved in their creation as well.
And then it hit me… or rather, Kyle had suggested it one night. We were curled up on the couch together, after a particularly long marathon of old, scary movies.
“You really love renovating these old places,” he’d said, “but you hate destroying them with new construction.”
“So?”
“So why don’t you build all new construction… of historic old floor-plans?”
By the time he’d finished saying it, my mind had already been blown.
“Think about it, Sammara. You could create one-hundred percent accurate, vintage homes, modeled exactly as they would’ve been built two-hundred years ago. Only with central air-conditioning and high-speed internet,” he winked.
It made so much sense I was almost sick with excitement. I could create masterpieces of architecture that no longer existed, using modern engineering and upgraded materials. CNC machines to model even the most complicated trims and finishes.
I could build antebellum mansions! Georgian manors. Beautiful old Victorians, like the one we lived in now…
“Is Cindy still handling the other end of things for you?”
“Yes.”
“How’s she doing?”
I smiled, pumping my arms as the treadmill’s program randomly selected a new hill to climb. “She’s kicking ass, actually.”
Cindy had started as my assistant. Now she was my second-in-command. She was smart, capable, energetic — everything I needed her to be. But she’d never be my partner. Not after what happened with Dawn…
“Oh, I meant to tell you…” Melissa said hesitantly. “I uh… I ran into Dawn.”
It was uncanny, how things like that could happen during conversation. Yet they always did.
“Yeah? And what’d she say?”
Melissa laughed. “You think I’d actually talk to her? After what she pulled?”
“No,” I smiled. “You’re a loyal friend.”
“Damn straight!”