“I have an idea!” Remi burst out. Then he looked up from his pile of papers and blushed in Julianne’s general direction. Julianne assumed Remi had noticed his father’s stony-faced grimace, because he now spoke in his best “project manager” voice. “I’m here to make a …”
He faltered. “I’m here to make an official business presentation. I think you may be, uh, very interested in the schematic I’ve worked up for this afternoon.”
Julianne feared her heart was threatening to pound out of her chest, with her stomach in hot pursuit.
Instinctively, she reached for Chloe’s hand and was relieved to feel her sister squeeze back. A few feet away, tiny beads of sweat were forming on their father’s forehead.
Remi seemed to have gotten his second wind.
Crouched on the living room floor, hunched over his pile of papers, he was busily sorting and shuffling and occasionally clearing his throat. Finally, after what felt like years, Remi scooped up some blueprints, transferred them to the coffee table, and turned to his father with shaking hands.
“Dad, I know that you’ve spent a long time, and a lot of money drawing up the plans for your house.” Remi’s voice had gained the tiniest edge of confidence.
Remi’s father nodded severely. “You’re absolutely right. This project has been years of work in the making.
Years.”
Remi pressed on before his father could elaborate.
“But, bearing all those things in mind, I have something I’d really like you to consider.” Remi took another deep breath and smoothed his blueprints out across the table.
“I’ve been working with my boss at Dawson and Dawson on this all summer, and I think it could really work.”
The room was completely silent as everyone held their breath, watching Mr. Moore lumber forward to leer down over the blueprints. Julianne could hear Remi gulping down air, but she couldn’t look at him. “It’s an alternative schematic for the new wing,” Remi continued. “Dad, I know it’s not your original plan, but I think you’ll find it interesting. And it’s totally eco-friendly. It would be groundbreaking—in a completely different way.” He passed the blueprints over his shoulder to his father, who had gone from looking annoyed to down-right shocked. Remi’s mother took a few tentative steps forward to stand with her husband and glance over the blueprints. She stepped across the rug like she was trying to wipe something distasteful off of her shoe.
“I know it strays from your original vision, Dad,”
Remi pressed on. “But I think it’s still viable. Living on this beach is a dream you share with a lot of people—I know it was a dream for Mrs. Kahn, too. I, um, I think we have that in common. We all deserve to build our dreams with our families, and no one should be able to take that away from us.” He paused, shyly looking over at his father. “Maybe, this way, we can all have our dream houses.”
Mrs. Moore raised her aristocratic—if slightly Botox-ed—
chin toward her husband and then gestured back toward Remi’s new blueprint. After what seemed like a lifetime, she said, “I, for one, think this is lovely.” Mr. Moore slipped his hand around his wife’s waist and clapped his son on the shoulder.
Nodding toward the blueprints, he said, “Well, Remington, the way you’ve worked solar panels in with the existing glass is very impressive. And turning that wing inward to create a contained beach garden that will be visible from the gym is a solid innovation.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his tone was a little bit softer. “I’m impressed with the refinement in your design, son. The sustainable fixtures are going to save me quite a bit of money.”
The room, collectively, exhaled.
Chapter Twenty-five
Julianne shuffled downstairs in her pajamas, stretching. It had been a few days since Remi had nearly broken their door down with his surprise visit, but she was still exhausted from all the excitement. As she walked into the living room, en route to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, she noticed Chloe perched on the edge of the sofa.
Her sister was holding a brilliant orange Gerbera daisy.
“Oooh! What’s this?” Julianne squealed. “Did the new boy send it over?”
“Nope, this one’s for you.” Chloe handed the flower to her very surprised sister. “It arrived this morning,” she said with a wink, before walking away.
Julianne gingerly opened the note attached to the pretty flower.
Julianne, I have a surprise for you. Meet me at 8:30 tonight, at the spot where you set up your afternoon easel. I’m a very tempera-mental note, so you’d better do it my way or my feelings will be hurt.
Julianne laughed—she’d never had a piece of stationery make demands on her before. Her interest was decidedly piqued.
By 8:30 that evening, Julianne was ready to burst with excitement and anticipation. She grabbed the flower and the note and headed down to the appointed spot on the beach. She thought about all the afternoons she’d spent in this exact spot, baking and squinting in the sun as she tried to recreate her mother’s light exactly.
In retrospect, those had been some great afternoons.
As she approached her destination, she noticed an easel—almost exactly like hers—set up where she used to paint. The top was draped in a sheet, and another note was attached. Julianne hesitated. So much had happened so quickly. They were staying in their house; school was starting soon. Did she really need any more surprises?
Staring at the mysterious gift, though, Julianne couldn’t stand the suspense and finally leaned down and opened the note tentatively. Open me! was all it said. Julianne laughed, thinking that she certainly would have uncovered the easel, no matter what the note had said.
She lifted the cover off to find a wrapped package.
Then she went to work, gingerly peeling off the wrapping paper, layer by layer. At the end of all the unwrapping, Jules gasped. She squeezed her eyes shut and held them closed for a very long moment, breathing in and
