Page 68 of The Write Choice

I nod slowly, rubbing my beard between my thumb and forefinger as I listen. “I’ve seen those. Like accordion walls.”

Thalia snaps and points at me. “Exactly.” She writes this down. “She also started brainstorming about projector screens and walls painted to function like white boards for collaboration, which is something we can incorporate in our design, but we’d want to ask the engineer about materials and costs before we finalize anything.”

“Would we have one large room with the accordion wall, or would we have several rooms?”

“I think just one would work, but if we could fit two, that would be really cool.” She turns to a blank page and starts a rough sketch. “What if we had the cafeteria here, then there were stairs to another floor? Maybe a loft area overlooking the cafeteria. There could be some seating outside the room, too, to allow for extra space or reading areas?”

Jasper perks up and leans forward to look at the sketch. “Are these spaces going to be in use during lunch periods?”

“Mmm.” Thalia chews her lip. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Think of what?” I ask.

“The noise,” they say in unison. Thalia fights a smile as she looks at Jasper’s gruff face across the table.

“Hmm. Right. Okay, so what if we build the cafeteria out further from the building. May I?” I hold my hand out for Thalia’s pencil. She hands it over and flips the notebook to a new page, sliding it to me. “If there is a walk-through space between the cafeteria and the existing building, we can have offshoots on either side. That would give us plenty of space for two huge rooms like Mac described.” I make a rough sketch as I talk.

Jasper nods. “Or, you could have communal space on one side, along with an entry to the outside, and two stories on the other side. Two identical rooms, one on top of the other.”

“I like that, too.” I lean back in my chair. “The board wants options. Can we draft these as two of them? If they want a third, we can maybe present the loft idea after pricing out some soundproofing. I’ll contact Calvin to get his engineer perspective, and we can tweak the designs from there before we render them for the presentation.”

Jasper nods once. “I’ll take the two-story design. Thalia can take the double-sided one.”

I slide the notebook and pencil back to Thalia. “That sounds good. Let’s meet again on Thursday and see where we are. The deadline on this is going to sneak up on us,” I warn.

“Especially if we’re down two junior architects,” Thalia says, eyeing the empty chairs.

“Right. I’ll… deal with that, too, somehow. In the meantime, come to me if you need help. Orlando and Marianne are off this project until further notice.”

Jasper chuckles darkly, and Thalia’s eyes grow wide, but they both voice their agreement before shuffling out of the conference room to get to work.

I snap my laptop shut, silently reminding myself that personnel issues are an unfortunate part of this job and wondering how mad my parents will be if I dissolve the team they set me up with before I’ve even really started.

By the time I’ve made a few phone calls, tracked down my missing junior architects, had a longer-than-necessary conference call with our engineering team, and drafted a formal email to HR about the aforementioned missing junior architects, it’s dark outside. A quick glance at my laptop clock has me groaning and burying my head in my hands.

I’m sorry I got pregnant, Brandon.

Her words have been on repeat all day. Every time I get a second of quiet, they cut through me again. I can’t avoid it anymore. We can’t be interrupted again. We have to talk about this. It’s not fair for her to go on feeling this way when I’ve never felt anything but the opposite.

My door is open, but a slight tapping comes from that general direction. I peek over my hands to see Thalia standing in my doorway. I straighten and try to look at least a little like I’m not in danger of a Monday evening mental breakdown.

“Thalia, what are you still doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” She lifts one eyebrow. “May I?” She indicates the chairs positioned in front of my desk, and I nod, leaning back in my seat.

She sits, crossing one leg over another and clasping her hands on her knee. “I asked my mom to watch the baby for a few extra hours so I could work on the proposal we talked about this morning.” She eyes the steam rising from the fresh cup of coffee on my desk. “How many nights have you been here burning the midnight oil this month?”

I glance at the cup, then back to her. “Too many,” I admit.

She hums. “I thought you were going to make it a priority to get out of here in time to see your kids more.”

“I was. I am. I…” I slump in my chair. “There’s a possibility I’m out of my depth here.”

Thalia tilts her head. “How so?”

I pass a hand over my mouth, considering. “I like designing. I’m good at it. I can look at a space, measure it, do the math, and create something that’s both functional and looks cool. I’m not so great at the more managerial tasks.”

“What makes you say that?”