“Square and rectangular,” I shook my head. “You got it quite literally.”
“Shall we go in?” she motioned toward the front door.
“Please,” I replied.
We entered the house, and it was gorgeous. White marble floors, and white staircases everywhere complemented the glass. But, the design was almost like a Lego house.
There were infinite platforms and levels, rising and falling with no apparent logic, and tiny stair steps connected them from one to the other. The place had no real rooms or walls, just randomly placed floor spaces, none bigger than about eight or nine square feet.
“You could get your cardio in before breakfast,” I said as we navigated yet another set of steps up to another platform.
Suspended in the center of the house, was a large open platform with a bed, and a cleverly hidden white chrome closet.
“This is the master bedroom,” Susan said as she swept her arms around the level.
“Wow,” Vicki said. “This is beautiful.”
I looked around, and it was. From here, the equivalent to somewhere between the second and third story, I could see the Red Rocks rising all around us. Behind them, the city of Sedona spread vaguely off in the distance.
“The view is unbelievable,” I said.
“Isn’t it?” Susan looked out over the expanse with us.
Everywhere I looked, I could see the landscape from a different angle.
I whistled. “This is a unique design.”
Susan showed us a couple of other features, state-of-the-art kitchen appliances and bathrooms. There were no ghosts, no moats or dragons, no secret military closets, but…
“There’s just no privacy,” Vicki said. “It’s all open.”
“The glass comes with a tinting feature,” Susan said. “You can press a button, and it tints the glass for privacy. But, the view is not as clear.”
“Let’s think about it,” I told Susan. “It’s getting late.”
“You do that,” she said. “But we expect this one to go fast as well.”
We left the glass house, and Vicki and I drove back into town in quiet thought.
“I love that view,” she said. “But the proverbial significance of living in a glass house, I don’t think I like that.”
“Just don’t throw any stones, and you’ll be fine,” I said.
“I’m serious,” she said. “Our life has gotten a little too public lately.”
“It has, hasn’t it?” I asked, but it was more of a statement. “Plus, I kind of felt like a monkey in a tree climbing up all those platforms and levels.”
She laughed. “I know, right? What if you were tired and slipped or something?”
“Okay,” I said. “So that one’s a ‘no.’”
“That’s a bummer,” she said. “It really was a cool place.”
“Well, do you want it?” I asked. “Because I’ll buy it for you if you want it.”
I saw her face soften at my words, and she was quiet for a few minutes. In glances back and forth as I drove, she seemed to be trying to form words. It occured to me that we had never talked about what I said in the interview. Then, she seemed to change her mind.
“That’s sweet,” she said. “But, I don’t think that place is us.”
“It’s not,” I agreed. “So, what’s ‘us’? What do we want? I don’t think we ever defined that.”
“Let’s see,” she said. “After that house, the view is a big one.”
“Check,” I said. “View.”
“Also, a jacuzzi,” she said.
“Great bathrooms,” I said. “Check.”
“And set up for home automation,” she said.
“Smart house,” I said. “Check.”
“And near the office and shopping,” she said. “I love our location.”
“No commute,” I said. “Check.”
“But far enough away from downtown that we don’t get caught up in every event or festival,” she said.
“That’s a big one,” I said. “The film festival was brutal.”
“Right,” she said. “I want to feel like we’re getting away from it all.”
“Privacy,” I said. “Check.”
“It’s too bad we couldn’t just put all this into an app and order it,” she said.
“Well,” I shrugged. “We could.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“What if we designed our own?” I asked.
Her eyes got big. “If we bought land and worked with an architect?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We could do it our own way.”
She smiled and nodded. “Our own way. That is definitely us.”
I laughed. “Yep. That’s the way we do things. Our own way.”
Chapter 17
The next morning was Elena’s immigration hearing. I expected Vicki to be a nervous wreck, but she seemed relaxed.
“We’re bringing in witnesses,” she told me as we got ready for the day. “Her daughter, her son-in-law, and her employer.”
“Why won’t you let me reschedule with Judith?” I leaned against the bathroom door frame as she applied her make-up.
“I told you,” she said. “We need her testimony. This is pro-bono, and Julianna is drowning in Zondra’s alimony.”
I laughed. “That is true.”
“Don’t worry,” Vicki smiled radiantly. “I’ve got this wrapped up. Besides, this is a long process, and you’re a stand-in for Alister O’Brien, so we’ll have you testify at some point.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be,” she said. “We wanted to be able to take on more work, so that we could all be in more than one place at a time.”
I wanted to tell her how much she amazed me, how she dazzled me right then. But, she hadn’t said anything about the elephant in the room, and it was growing bigger in my mind. Had I misjudged our whole relationship? I kept meaning to talk to her about it, but I couldn’t seem to find the right moment.
Was her insistence on doing the hearing without me, a sign of her pulling away? I grabbed my bag to go into the office and just hoped the preoccupied smile she gave me was only her nerves.
When I arrived at the office, Judith
