To her credit, Amanda didn’t swear or even scowl, really. Theonly tell of her displeasure was a thin line between her eyebrows. “Does itmean my design is impossible or just a hell of a lot more expensive?”
Quinn couldn’t help but chuckle at the question. “You seem tounderstand how this works. I thought you said it was your first reno.”
Amanda raised one brow, erasing the line altogether. “First onehere. And I’ve watched my share of HGTV. Tell me how bad it is. Don’tsugarcoat.”
“Okay. Nothing is off the table design-wise. Cost, as youguessed, is another matter. I’ve worked up some options.”
She hadn’t gotten the sense Amanda would be impossible to workwith, but the small smile made Quinn more optimistic than when she’d arrived.“Let’s see them.”
She pulled the rubber band from the roll and laid out theblueprints. “The first is your original design. It would require a steel I-beamand new support beams at either end of the building. Given the size and span,along with new roof joists, you’re looking at about twenty grand more than theoriginal budget.”
Amanda regarded the plan and nodded slowly. It was impossible totell if she was considering it or bidding farewell to the vision she’d had forwho knew how long. “And the second?”
Quinn rearranged the pieces of paper. “The second creates oneopening in the kitchen, essentially giving you a separate room for decoratingand storage.”
“And the front?”
“A slightly larger opening. A double doorway, if you will.”
“I see.” There was definitely a scowl now.
“The upside of this is it would actually bring the work underbudget.”
Amanda sat back in her chair, folded her arms, and sighed. “Iknow that’s supposed to make me happy, but it doesn’t.”
She’d been afraid of that. “Which is why I took the liberty ofcreating a third option.”
“A third?”
It was so unlike what they’d initially discussed, Quinn debatedeven showing it to her. But she’d already put in the work on her own time, soit wasn’t like she had anything to lose. And as she’d told Arti, objectively,it was the best of the three. “It’s a very different concept.”
She brought the final plan to the top of the stack. Amanda angledher head one way, then the other. She narrowed her eyes and did it again.Eventually, she tapped the page. “You moved the counter.”
“I did.”
“And added a bar.”
“That, too.”
“It’s like a completely different space.”
“It is.” For some people, that would make it all the moreappealing. For others, it was a dealbreaker. She didn’t know Amanda well enoughto have a sense of which camp she fell in.
“It’s…” She trailed off this time, not giving Quinn much in theway of clues.
“It’s completely okay if you don’t like it. It’s not at all whatyou asked for when we sat down together.”
“But…”
“It might feel like not your bakery anymore. You were looking toexpand, not reinvent.”
Amanda sighed. She looked up from the plans and into Quinn’seyes. Quinn seemed worried, like maybe she regretted showing this version. Notlike she’d been looking to strike a nerve, or a chord, or whatever it was she’djust struck. “Maybe a reinvention is exactly what I need.”
Quinn’s eyes went from worried to alarmed. “I hope I didn’t givethat impression. It certainly wasn’t my intention.”
Amanda smiled. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing.”
“But, still. Perhaps I overstepped. I—”
“You’re a genius is what you are.”
The statement seemed to confuse, rather than reassure. “That’sdefinitely an overstatement.”
Amanda studied the plans again. Instead of working against thecenter wall, the design worked with it. The opening between the spaces, thesame double-door width, now looked intentional. Even better, the shift createda flow for customers to place orders and pick them up. If business grew half asmuch as she hoped it did, that would make a huge difference. “No, I think it’scompletely true in this case.”
Quinn’s face finally softened. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Wait. Did you think of this the first time we met?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Not concretely.”
Amanda shook her head. “If we hadn’t run into a snag, you neverwould have mentioned it.”
“You were very clear on what you wanted. It wasn’t my place tochange your mind.”
“I can’t decide if I should commend you or smack the back of yourhead.”
“How about neither?” Quinn looked honestly horrified.
Amanda laughed. “You don’t have kids, do you?”
“I don’t.” Quinn frowned.
“I was having a mom moment. I promise I would never actuallysmack the back of your head. Or my kids, for that matter. Although I have beentempted a time or two.”
“Oh.” Quinn mimed the gesture of a head slap, then laughed. “Iget it.”
“Maybe you should consider being pushy more often.”
Quinn leaned back in her chair and put her hands on either sideof her waist. “Have you been talking to my therapist?”
Amanda laughed. “No, but I think our therapists might be kindredspirits.”
Quinn shrugged. “Or maybe we are.”
She said it lightly, with a hint of a smile playing at the edgesof her mouth. Still, Amanda couldn’t help but take it to heart. A novelconcept, especially given her recent run-ins with Mel.
“I’m sorry if that was too forward,” Quinn added before she couldrespond.
She felt herself smirk. “Apologizing isn’t helping your pushyquotient.”
“Oh, God. You’re so right.” Quinn shook her head and laughed.“It’s a good thing you aren’t talking to my therapist or I’d never hear the endof it.”
Amanda tried not to notice the way laughing brought out the linesat the corners of Quinn’s green eyes, or how the self-deprecating humor stirredsomething inside her. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Phew.” Quinn wiped her eyes and seemed to remember the reasonthey were meeting in the first place. “So, this one. You’d seriously considerit?”
She was well beyond considering it, but she didn’t want tooverplay her hand. “Talk to me about cost.” She took a deep breath. “And timeline.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
By the time they wrapped up the meeting an hour later, Amanda’shead was spinning. In a good way. She had a remarkably detailed understandingof how the project would unfold, including approximately when and for how longshe’d need to
