Pure Feeling

getting acquainted

I was grateful when the weekend was over and I could go back to work. Throwing myself into sketching designs and checking budgets allowed me to forget about the looming threat Xavier and Drew posed. Between work and the busy social schedule for the week, I was hoping it would be relatively easy to keep myself preoccupied. There was nothing worse than an idle mind.

"I think to keep the island bench as the sculptural centrepiece of the kitchen," I said, pointing to the second sketch, "it needs dark cabinetry for contrast."

"I agree, it's a big area so it wouldn't feel too much. And you must go with this second option. Having the island cut out to form a booth breakfast area is exactly what the space needs." Aggie spent a few moments selecting a sketch for each room I'd done so far. "Present him these ones and then based on what Mr Khan does and doesn't like in the consultation you can continue."

"Thank you." I took the sheets of paper from her hand and tucked them away in the file marked approved. There was another week until my meeting with Aamir Khan but I'd wanted to get Aggie's opinions early in case there were many changes needed to be made. "I know I should be confident in my work but sometimes having a second set of eyes can help get me out of my head, you know? I can get so stuck on the vision in my head that I can't tweak it for what will actually work on paper and in practice."

Aggie smiled broadly. It was comforting, the kind of smile mothers gave their children. "It's fine, Sasha, honestly. I still make Kath check over my plans and I've been doing this for 25 years."

"You're lucky you married an artist who can give you some valuable comments." Aggie nodded in response and I moved the conversation on, asking a question that I'd been burning to ask since our meeting started. "Have they set a date for the Duchess pitch yet?"

"End of the month. I was thinking we should have another meeting to revisit the proposal, make any necessary alterations."

I nodded. "Me too. I had a thought about the ceilings, I think they are too bland. The hotel is grand and opulence is its selling point — we can't do anything understated."

"My thoughts exactly. I believe we might have ruled out that chandelier too soon." Aggie's got a dreamy look in her eyes. I couldn't blame her — having the budget for a restoration of this scale was uncommon these days. It was cheaper to demolish and rebuild.

"We've got to remember this is a restoration, our job is to find the original beauty of the building and draw it out. I lost that notion a little in the first plans." I tidied the rest of the papers I'd brought in with me into a pile and stood up. "I'll request a meeting with you for a couple of weeks, once I'm into the next stage of the Styles and Khan projects?"

"Yes, that's fine. Speaking of, though. Are you sure you're doing alright? You took that spontaneous week off a little while ago and I've been worried you've taken on too much." My shoulders hunched and my right mood deflated. I was always so certain that I did a good job of hiding things until someone pointed out that really, I wasn't very good at concealing things at all. "I don't want you taking on more than you can handle, I know you've been working on some big projects lately and you've been navigating a new relationship... If you want to postpone your first commercial bid then we can. I will take the Duchess on myself and ask a junior designer to assist."

Panic spread through me. I had worked so hard to build my career up to the point where I could attempt to work on both residential and commercial projects rather than specialising in one. "No! I'm fine. Things are going much better now and —"

"Please, promise you'll talk to me if you need? New relationships are tough, especially when you're completely new to romantic relationships." Concern weighed heavy on Aggie, who seemed to have aged in the last five minutes. Even though I never wanted to cause her worry, I had to admit it was nice to be cared about. It didn't matter that I was in my mid-twenties and I'd been without my mother for a decade — I still craved the moments when she would fret because they were the ones when it was most obvious how much she loved me. "Sasha?"