Chapter 6 - The New Blueprint
Six months later, the spring sun was shining through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of my newly renovated downtown design studio.
The space was stark, minimalist, and entirely mine. Exposed brick walls painted a crisp matte white, polished concrete floors that reflected the morning light, and custom oak desks where three talented junior architects were busy sketching out blueprints for a sustainable community center project we had just won against three major regional firms.
My phone rang on the desk. I glanced at the caller ID—an unfamiliar local number. I let it go to voicemail, but it immediately pinged with a text transcription.
“Elena, please. Just five minutes. I’m living out of my car. Melissa left me three months ago when the money ran out. I need to talk to you.”
I stared at the screen for three seconds, feeling absolutely nothing. No anger. No satisfaction. Just the flat, distant pity one feels when looking at a discarded draft of a building design long since demolished.
I blocked the number, archived the message into a spam folder, and tossed the phone onto the desk.
The front door of the studio chimed, and my assistant walked in holding a stack of freshly printed blueprints for the community center.
“Elena, the city council just approved the primary phase layout,” she smiled brightly. “They love the structural framing.”
May you like
I stood up, smoothing the front of my tailored linen blazer—no pearls today, just a clean, sharp silver pendant I had bought for myself to celebrate the grand opening.
“Good,” I said, walking over to the drafting table to look over the clean, unblemished lines of the new design. “Let’s get to work.”
