Fate Interrupted

30. House Hunting

Ren

APRIL 2010

"Babe? Gio? Are you home?"

"I'm in here, Bellissima. Get in here!" Gio calls from the kitchen. There are discarded basil leaves on the counter and a pot of boiling water on the stove. Gio is scooping out pesto into a bowl from the Cuisinart. He's always home before I am, so most nights, he's been making us dinner—I love it! I come in next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, and give him a quick kiss on his cheek. 

"How was your day, baby?" I ask, and he grins ear to ear. "What?"

He sets the spatula down and suddenly picks me up by the waist spinning me around once before setting me down. "Bella, you did it!"

"What?" I ask again, laughing with him.

"The ad you did. It was published yesterday, and I already got two calls!"

"You did?"

"They said my website was great. They are big jobs too! I visited one this afternoon. It is in the hills: a big house with beautiful mature landscaping. They want things pruned and spruced up, new things added, and they easily accepted my new pricing. But bella, the other one. The other is a new property ground-up construction, all new landscaping, and they want me to design it."

"Really? Gio, that's fantastic!" I gush, jumping back into his arms and giving him a big hug.

"It's amazing, but I never would have done something like that if it weren't for you," he says, pulling me back, catching my eyes with his sincerely. " I'm nervous, though. I've never designed something like this before. But, this job could lead to more with the contractor if I'm good."

"Which you will be."

"But I don't have drafting software. They'll want something that looks professional."

"Your mom didn't have computer drafting. How did she do it?" 

"She hand drew plans and used watercolor to color them in, they looked amazing, but I've tried that before. Mine look terrible."

"I'll help you. I love watercolor. Baby, this is so exciting! We should cheers to your success." I bound away from him and dig around in the fridge for a wine bottle.

"Come on, Bella. We said we'd cut down on the mid-week drinking."

"We'll just have one, okay? This is a celebration!" I say, slamming the fridge door and uncorking a half-drunk bottle with a pop. I pour us two glasses. "Here's to you and Metric Landscape and Design!"

"Here's to us," he corrects, clinking his glass with mine. We take a sip and get back to cooking, grating the parmesan. "Anyway, how was your day?"

"Terrible," I huff and take a sizable gulp of my wine. Gio might not have another glass, but I'm definitely going to. "They need to hire another graphic designer. I barely keep up, and Olivia is helping me almost daily."

"Well, if you guys are busy, why don't they hire another person?" he questions, stirring the cheese into the pesto.

"I don't know! It's so frustrating!" I groan, kicking off my shoes toward the front door. "I think Cheryl is still scared about the recession and likes operating under this slimmer model. She doesn't feel the heat. She's cashing in." I slump onto the counter stool at the end of the peninsula.

"Yeah, until you quit because you're overworked," he mumbles, pouring the dry pasta into the boiling pot.

True. Cheryl doesn't realize what she's got till it's gone.