White Cloud

32- Our Little Secret

Two days go by peacefully but on Wednesday, I'm getting nervous. Vincent has been working a lot and I've been spending most of my time perfecting my design plans for the kitchen. I've worked on my presentation so much that I've asked Jayda to go over it with me multiple times just so that I can sell this perfectly to my parents.

Although, as Jayda had told me the day before, if the design is really good then I won't have to sell it to them. I don't know if that's reassuring or not.

With Dylan at school, I drive with both of my parents from the hotel to the empty house. I know that my relationship with my mom is a little strained right now after our argument but I'm forgetting about it. She's promised me that she's done with the modeling for good and that's all that I want from her. She's still very quiet on the way to the house though and I think that it's because she feels bad about everything that happened.

Other than a little bit of awkwardness, I think that I'm on okay ground with both of my parents right now which is nice. I think that the news that I have for them today will help even more because not only am I showing them the kitchen plans but I've got another surprise for them too.

"Okay, what's the surprise?" My dad asks me when he pulls into the driveway of the house.

"Just follow me," I insist and I suddenly realize how disturbingly similar this is to how I had taken Vincent into this same house a few nights ago to seduce him. All of the stuff from that night, the air mattress and candles, are all gone and this obviously is completely different than that but just thinking about my night with Vincent is making me blush. I make sure to walk into the house behind my mom and dad to hide my blushing cheeks. "Go into the kitchen."

Walking close together, they both walk through the large living room into the kitchen where on the counter, there is a large board with all of the samples and pictures that I'd printed out and super glued to the board to try and present one cohesive idea for the kitchen.

"Is this the design you created for the kitchen?" My mother asks me, walking up to the board to analyze all of the aspects. "Bea, this is amazing. It's really thought out."

"Yeah. I have a whole concept," I step up to the board and start walking her through it. "This is the backsplash, it'll really go well with white counters and a light blue-gray wall color. A farm sink, black counter top that will match the iron pot rack, and hardwood floors."

"You've spent a lot of time on this," My dad observes, also analyzing all of the parts to the kitchen that I've put on the board.

"Oh, I love it," My mom says, sounding very excited about the design. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized that I was holding and a smile creeps onto my face. "I love this chandelier over the table. Lenny, what do you think?"

"I like it," He confirms, not as enthusiastic about the design as my mom is but that's understandable because this isn't really his thing. He still has to be okay with it because he has to live here too.

"There's more," I add quickly, getting nervous again. "Since you like this design, I was wondering if I could design the rest of the house too? Or maybe not even the whole house, maybe just a few other rooms. And, I would obviously run everything by you first, I could make this kind of board for each room if you wanted. I just... I really liked putting this together so I think that it'd be cool to try again."

"Okay," My mom nods at me. "Yeah, I don't see why not."

"I'm also going to use it for my portfolio," I add more as I open one of the drawers by the sink and pull out a brochure that I had put in the drawer to keep it a secret. "Because I found a school for interior design, which I've decided that I want to study in college, and they ask for a portfolio. So I was thinking that if I decorate this house and toss together some sketches of other designs, I'll be able to apply my portfolio by the deadline this winter."