They are arranged in large six ceramic vases along the balcony railing: six, each carefully selected to reflect Aunt Alice’s original garden. Mainly Rose David Austin. The same pale pink vines of Eden, the same deep crimson of Munstead Forest. I water them every morning, checking for new blooms with the same reverence Aunt Alice showed. It’s not like having three acres of garden. But it’s mine. All mine.
The studio is thriving. I used a significant portion of the house proceeds — $200,000 — to open Bennett Design Co. in downtown Dallas. Glass walls. Exposed bricks. Standing desks with two monitors. I hired two junior designers and a project manager. We specialize in UX/UI for healthcare applications and we already have reservations three months in advance. It turns out that when you’re not spending sixteen hours a day being someone’s unpaid servant, you have the energy to build something extraordinary.
My father forgot to hang up and I heard, “It’s so dumb that it lets us stay,” so I booked his dream trip to Italy, sold my 980,000 home
